Team RWBYZ
by Trusty McGoodGuy
Summary: The spirits have interfered with destiny, leaving one of the greatest of them all with only one choice. To tear Zuko and his uncle away from their world, and throw them into another.
1. A Gift From Fire

**Chapter 1 – A Gift From Fire**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

Zuko sped the ostrich horse up marginally, painfully aware that each step would jostle Iroh and send a fresh stab of pain through his body. He hadn't wanted to move him yet, Iroh may have woken him up and been okay enough to walk around, but the toll of riding were clear. Whenever they passed over a rock, or hit a small dip, Iroh's hands would clench in agony, even if the old man himself kept quiet.

'He probably doesn't want to worry me.' Zuko thought to himself.

It was rather typical of uncle, to try and hide his own discomfort without realising that he could see right through it all. Still, he couldn't exactly stop, not with the way those grey clouds were moving in. Maybe if he was lucky, he could pretend he had just imagined it all.

"Nephew, I'm afraid we must stop."

No luck it seemed.

"It's okay Uncle, you can rest for a bit." Zuko spoke softly as he pulled on the reins for the ostrich-horse to stop. He wasn't very good at sounding "comforting", but being quiet would normally sound close enough.

"You could…? Never mind. It is not pain nephew, those clouds, we will not make it to Full Moon Bay before the storm is upon us."

"So we should just wait!? Uncle we need cover, we need to-"

"There is a small cave just that way, we should be fine in there."

Zuko stayed silent, and tugged on the reins again after a few moments. He should have known his Uncle had thought of that. Then again, the memories of Uncle trying to make tea out of poisonous plants made Zuko feel at least _somewhat_ reassured that his doubt wasn't without reason.

The clouds were on them sooner than Zuko had expected, and the first splatters of rain had already started to fool as they rode inside the cave. Things weren't much better inside of it however, as without any wood to burn, the fire benders had to rely on their own heat to keep themselves warm as the storm began to build. Zuko helped lay his uncle down on the ground, on what at least _looked_ like a comfortable spot, while he himself took his seat on a somewhat clean rock that jutted up from the floor. He stared out at the rapidly building storm outside, the almost black clouds now pouring out rain as the wind whipped up and sent freezing gusts in every direction, chilling them to their bones whenever one came inside. For Zuko however, the worst part of the storm was the strangeness of it all.

"Uncle…?"

"Yes?" There was the hint of drowsiness that only came from a man who was already almost asleep.

"The last time we saw a storm like this, it was on his ship. But that was out at sea…we're in the middle of a desert, and it's the completely wrong season."

"Hmmm…you are not wrong nephew, but even the Earth Kingdom still has its share of mysteries." His nephew did not look reassured. "There are tales that the Avatar can change the weather to their whim, perhaps he was a bit hot?"

It was a terrible joke, especially considering the present company, and it was something Iroh hadn't considered until he saw his nephew's body tense. He said nothing however, and moved himself onto the floor, laying down so that he was facing the mouth of the cave. He would no doubt say it was to watch for intruders, but Iroh knew the boy simply didn't want to look at him.

Iroh sighed internally, he really should have known better. Zuko may have let the avatar run after Iroh had found himself struck by his own niece, but he wasn't such a fool to think that was anything other than rash panic to protect his uncle. Perhaps Zuko's greatest strength, and his greatest weakness, was his iron will. He was relentlessly determined to capture the avatar, despite the boy besting him at nearly every turn. Even before that however, the boy had never questioned his mission when he spent three years of his life searching for the avatar, when nobody had even _seen_ him for almost 100 years.

Zuko loved and devoted himself to his father. An impossible mission, and a flaming fist hadn't changed that, it would be naïve at best for Iroh to think that he might realise the truth. The truth however, was _horrid_. It might break him. It probably _would_. His mother disappearing in the night, his sister besting him at everything he prided himself upon, the truth that Ozai would never, and _could_ never, love him…no, that would finish him.

His nephew took pride in how he held himself, as well he should. He never looked beaten, even in the few times he was. He never looked scared, even in the face of the avatar's power. And he never looked lonely….even when he always was. How Iroh wished he could comfort him, to love him like had Lu Ten and like his mother did. Like Ozai should have. His hands clenched into fists with anger.

' _Ozai you fool…you burned and banished your son. You saw him as nothing but a failure. But I know the truth. You see Azula as the first-born you always wanted. You admire her strength. Her ferocity. But Zuko is powerful too. Strong in will, and with more potential than you would ever care for.'_

He must be getting very tired indeed, he rarely thought about his brother so angrily. He didn't hate him, regardless of the monster he most certainly was. He still held fond memories of their childhood. Of when Iroh was a teenager, and would teach the young Ozai all the many bending techniques he had learned. Memories of seeing the young man smiling at his wedding to Ursa. Ozai was his brother, and he would love him for as long as he lived.

It didn't mean he wouldn't kill the man if he had to…

Iroh heaved a great internal sigh and made himself more comfortable on the floor. Tried to, at least. Years of practice, and aged wisdom helped him clear his mind quickly, and soon, he found himself drifting away.

Zuko kept still even after he heard his uncle's almost infamous snore. His mind was racing with fury at the avatar's mention. Not because of how he'd eluded him, how he'd continually denied him the love of his father. Not even because he behaved like nothing more than a child, making his losses even more humiliating. No, it was because…uncle was right. The brat probably could conjure up the storm just outside their cave. Uncle was one of the most powerful firebenders to have ever lived, and he was the son of the firelord! And yet here they were, hiding in a cave to keep dry, while a 12-year old boy could wave his hands, and with all the power in the world, change the weather of a whole desert. It was ridiculous! It was insane! And he was supposed to- Zuko stomped that thought into the dirt before he could even finish it. His father knew the power of the Avatar, and he knew Zuko could succeed. That's why he sent Azula to capture him. To motivate him. To remind him of who would take his place should he choose to remain a failure.

Azula could do it. She was a prodigy. One of a kind. Blessed by Agni himself to bend blue flames. She was sent after the Avatar too. And if his father had given them both the same mission…then he believed that he really could be as powerful as her.

' _Thank you father. I promise…I won't fail you.'_

As he shut his eyes, he didn't need to pretend to sleep anymore.

* * *

He looked down upon his two children. One, broken by mourning, yet seeking to love again. The other, a child, mutilated and abused by a man who should have loved him. Both lost souls, each in their own way. But the youngest…he was destined for failure. The other spirits had begun to become involved, each in their own way. An army patrol here, a storm there. The two he watched over didn't know it, but the avatar and his gang of friends had likewise been diverted. It was still astounding how much of an impact a small change can have. Destiny foretold a great victory for the Firelord…

"Are you sure about this?"

 **You're asking** _ **me**_ **if I'm sure? You never doubted me before Roku.**

"You never took such interest in humans before. Prince of the Fire nation or not he will never amount to much, not anymore."

 **So cruel, and to one of your descendants no less.**

"I have dozens of them. You only blessed one of them, and it was his sister."

 **Do you believe in spirit gossip now Roku? I didn't know that all powerful avatars partook in such matters.**

"Did you do it?"

 **I gave her an advantage, one she deserved, and one that her father has twisted and infected with his disease. But I did not bless her alone. The boy…I gave him potential.**

"…He'll never reach it."

 **No. Not anymore.**

Roku couldn't look at him, but he raised an eyebrow in his general direction.

"You sound sad. I didn't know you could."

 **Then you truly have lost faith in me. Despite what my children have done to this world, to** _ **my**_ **world. I do love them. Each and every one of them. He should have been happy.**

"He's never happy."

 **Not here, no.**

"…here?"

 **I see before me two travellers, both with the only family left who love them. I wished to say goodbye before they continued their journey.**

He reached out with non-existent hands, and ever so slightly, touched upon the teenagers burned eye. The reaction was immediate. He squirmed and shook, writhing around in agony while his dreams kept him prisoner. Sweat began to bead down his head, before evaporating into steam. Flames licked his body, and wrapped themselves around him. A cacoon of fire embraced his uncle too, though his was softer, and tenderer.

As flames danced and filled their small cave, he looked down upon them and felt a small sadness. He would miss them, even if they were going to a better place. But he would look after them, as best as he could…

 **Goodbye, Zuko. This, I give you this gift, and this blessing.**

A red flash consumed Zuko's body, and he disappeared. His uncle's flames whipped up in a fury, then faded away, taking the elderly man away with them…

* * *

 **AN:** Alright so here's my latest story. As of the time of writing I've already written up volume 1 and I will be posting once a week around the same time on the same day. I will continue this until the volume finale's, whereupon I will make sure I have the second volume finished before I begin posting again. This'll continue for the next volume, and so on and so forth. Now I already have a solid plot for the first three volumes, however if you have any particular suggestions then I'd be very interested in hearing them. I do want to make certain things quite clear however, I am not aiming for a Gary Stu character, and I am most definitely not writing any harems. Romantic suggestions will be considered, but are by no means guaranteed. All that said, I do still look forward to your reviews and input, and I hope you enjoy!


	2. Remnants of Reality

**Chapter 2 – Remnants of Reality**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

When Zuko woke up, he awoke screaming in agony. It felt like his very blood was boiling away, scorching all the muscles and tendons from his feet to his head. It was one of the worst pains he had felt in his life. It almost felt like when-

Zuko rolled off his back and clambered to his feet. The… _whatever-it-was_ was letting up. It was becoming more and more manageable by the second. He took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds as his body continued to scream at him, then he slowly exhaled. Steam seemed to billow from his mouth as his body cooled down. He was still painfully hot however, and it wasn't until he'd repeated the action several times that he began to feel normal again.

' _What…what just happened to me…?'_

He'd been sleeping, dreamlessly like usual. When he'd begun to see something. A light. An impossibly bright, and hot light. It was like staring into the sun, and his eyes winced in memory of the strange uncomfortableness he'd felt. It felt…wrong. Like he hadn't deserved the honour of looking at just whatever that thing had been.

"It was a bad dream. Just a _bad_ dream."

Saying it aloud didn't help. Now he just felt embarrassed, he probably woke uncle up too with his-

"UNCLE!?"

His eyes darted around, searching for any clue as to where he was. He was in the middle of a small grassy clearing, with tall trees surrounding him in every direction. It was some kind of forest, but there were no forests of this kind anywhere _near_ where they were in the Earth Kingdom. His pack of supplies was gone, to which Zuko's brain practically _screamed_ thieves. But if it were thieves, why did they dump him in some far away forest? His hand fell to his side, feeling the familiar leather grips on his Dao swords. He didn't know what kind of foolish thief had left him his swords, but he would make them regret giving him any kind of advantage once he found them.

The bigger, and most immediate problem would be finding his uncle. Someone had moved him away, but then left him. Some kind of kidnapping? Perhaps they'd been recognised, but could only take one of them. They must have wagered that the Dragon of the West would fetch a higher price than the banished prince.

'… _they were probably right.'_

Before Zuko could even scold himself for such a thought, there was a rustling amongst the bushes at the edge of the clearing. His blades were up and ready. If they thought he wasn't a bender, it would give him an advantage should it come to a fight.

"Oh, my head."

"Uncle!?"

The portly old man himself stepped out into the open, one hand gently massaging his forehead while the other was clasped around their bags.

"Prince Zuko? I had thought perhaps I was merely dreaming…"

The scarred teenager sheathed his swords and breathed a sigh of relief. His eyes still scanned the area for onlookers even as he spoke however.

"No, you're not. Somebody moved us. I don't know where, but they must still be around here somewhere."

"Oh? I must admit, I don't recognise this forest, but it must be very far from our cave."

"So someone must have moved us then right?"

"…"

His uncle was looking around in thought. Zuko ignored him with a frown and continued to scan the clearing. There was nothing in sight save for a strange looking black bird, which Zuko could _swear_ was looking right at him.

"We should perhaps leave anyway prince Zuko. This area does not look…safe."

Zuko nodded and began to turn towards where his uncle had randomly chosen to walk when he froze. Just beyond the bushes in the forest, there was a set of red eyes staring back at him. Not natural animal ones to be sure, and complete with some kind of plate that was as white as bone surrounding it. Slowly, he inched his hand towards the grip of his swords. The eyes darted towards him, and a giant black body leapt out into the clearing. Zuko dove to the side as he swung his swords out, a spurt of crimson liquid shooting into the air. He rolled into a crouched stance as he landed, the beast crashing onto the ground behind him.

Zuko turned to face whatever predator had tried to kill him, and halted in his tracks. It was like some sort of spirit monster that would be seen in the plays at Ember Island. Black fur covered its body, while bone white spikes protruded from around its head area.

"It…kind of looks like a bear-wolf. Or a really deformed polar bear dog."

Iroh said nothing, studying the beast for some time. He flinched away as the corpse began to smoke. Little wisps at first, but it quickly began to build until it seemed like the entire carcass was burning.

"How strange, I have never known such an animal to-"

"Uncle, look!"

Zuko pointed towards one of its smoking tusks which had shrank. No, not shrank Iroh mentally corrected, evaporated. Its body was evaporating before their very eyes, its body disappearing and drifting away with the wind.

"Is…is it some kind of spirit?"

"I am not sure… I suggest prince Zuko, we do not stay."

"Right, we should-"

Another one of the same beasts leapt out from the forest, almost catching Zuko as he leapt away in surprise. It turned as soon as it landed, and was met by a blast of fire to the face. Uncle stood tall and defiant before it, the air around his fingertips radiating with the heat.

"Whatever you are, we have no quarrel with you. Leave us, or be destroyed."

It growled in defiance, but made no move. The growl continued, echoing around them as more and more stepped into the clearing. Zuko split his swords and put his back against his Uncle's.

"They're not listening."

"Very well."

With a slight roar of his own, Iroh let a fire blast loose from his hand towards his opponent. It charged towards him, but quickly fell as the fireball tore through its vulnerable eye-socket, and into its brain.

The others charged, and Zuko let loose with slashes of flame through his swords. Their skull like face masks protected them somewhat, but the intense heat and burns to their bodies made them falter in their charge, allowing for Zuko to close in and finish them with a slice towards their necks. Whichever didn't fall straight away, were quickly finished off by either Zuko's second sword, or by Iroh's precision fire blasts.

The initial group that had surrounded them were swiftly killed, but others joined them. Pouring from the forest like a wave of black nightmares, their white faces and red eye's never failing to remind them of their inherent _wrongness_. But every beast that charged towards them quickly met its end from a sword striking into its flesh, chopping off limbs and heads, or an agonising burst of flame that burnt its way through their body.

With so many targets however, each one that came to strike pushed them closer and closer towards the edge of the clearing. If they were pushed into the forest, where they wouldn't see them until they were already upon them. Iroh was the closest to the trees when they attacked from behind, a strange black boar-wolf charging with its tusks right into his back.

Iroh went down with a shout of pain, his injury from Azula's fire strike flaring in agony, and making him clutch his shoulder as he lay on the floor. One of the beasts leapt to finish off its prey and received a sword into its neck for its trouble. Zuko stood protectively over his wounded uncle, eye's darting everywhere as he saw the beasts close in.

He flipped over, standing on his hands and spinning around. Flames launched from his feet knocked away anything foolish enough to get near. When he finished, he wasted none of the meagre time he'd bought himself, and began crafting his fire whips. He flung them around himself in an arc, flames strong enough and hot enough ripping through the trees, ground, and beasts without discrimination. One of the leapt high and he flung both of his whips down, searing it in half with a gruesome vengeance.

Zuko readied himself to fight again, when he paused. The few remaining beasts were hesitating, not in fear, but in… There, stepping powerfully out from the forest was another black monster. Unlike the others, this one had an immense number of spikes jutting from its body.

' _An alpha.'_

It stared at him, almost as if it were sizing him up. A low growl rumbled from its throat as it began to stalk towards him. Zuko refused to move from his stance over his uncle. It continued to grow closer, its sharp claws tearing up the earth with every step.

It leapt towards him, forcing Zuko to dive roll underneath it. He sliced upwards with his swords as it went over him, however the blades hit nothing but bone and bounced off. Zuko rolled to his feet and thrust his arm out, whipping out a blast of fire towards the beast. It charged towards him, the fire blast breaking apart over its bone covered head. Undeterred, it barraged into him, and smacked him aside and into a tree.

It didn't wait as he scrambled to his feet, sprinting towards him intent on gutting him with its razor sharp claws. He rolled out of the way as it swiped through the tree he'd been against, but it caught him again with its second attack, and sent him sprawling towards his uncle. As he landed, his head smacked down hard onto a rock, the world blurring and fading away.

The alpha stalked over towards the unconscious prince, eager to feast on its prey.

Lighting tore cracked through the air, striking the alpha and sent it flailing into a heap on the ground. Its body sizzled and smoked, the burnt smell of its flesh fading away with its body.

"Try to kill _my_ nephew will you."

The other creatures gazed over at the old man. Iroh was shaking on his feet, his energy almost completely drained, yet his fingertips were poised and ready to finish off any who dared move towards him. The beasts looked to one another questioningly. One by one they began to back away, warning growls emanating from their throats as they disappeared into the woods.

Iroh panted, as the physical exertion continued to take its toll on him. The scratches across his back were deep and painful, but he refused to fall until his unconscious nephew was safe.

His ears twitched as a twig snapped in the forest. A figure stepped into the clearing, his hands held up in a mock surrender.

"Don't worry old timer, I'm just here to help. My name's Qrow."

* * *

 **AN:** Alright, so there's the second chapter for Team RWBYZ, what did you all think? I'm gonna be keeping these chapters around the 2000-3000 mark by the way, focusing on the consistant updates over longer, but randomly released chapters. Let me know if you guys or gals really want something changing with that though. Had three really cool reviews so far which has been cool, although I couldn't see them for ages because FF was throwing a hissy fit and glitching out for some reason. Still, when I finally _could_ see them, they were really cool. Rather have these kinds of reviews over a thousand more stupid ones. As far as the content of these reviews...well there isn't too much to say without spoiling. So I guess all I'll say is that from what you all have told me so far, you should like where this story's gonna go.


	3. Heartbreak

**Chapter 3 – Heartbreak**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

Zuko wasn't used to strange noises when he woke up. The creaks and groans of his ship had been almost comforting over the three years he'd lived aboard it. More recently, it had been a blend of serene quiet, and the calls of Earth Kingdom wildlife. Whatever he was hearing now was most certainly not natural, yet it was so alien from any Fire Nation technology he couldn't place it as that either.

Strangely, he didn't feel the usual dull ache that he felt after a fight. It wasn't even numbed like when he'd had a healing herb mix lathered over his wounds. Slowly waking up, the first thing he saw was some strange fire inside the ceiling. It was white, so it must have been incredibly hot, or it was a strange fuel. Given that he wasn't _feeling_ too hot, it was probably the latter.

It could have been a type of glow-rock, or even some new breed of the glow worms that lived in the cave near Omashu. It made him question as to just _why_ someone would go through all that effort when a torch would do just as well?

' _Probably some Earth Kingdom noble, they have more wealth than brains most of them…'_

So, he was in some kind of Earth Noble's home. But…why? He lifted his hands up to his head to rub his eyes. Not chained up, so their cover was still intact. He began to sit up when something tugged on his chest. It was a series of strange ropes and metal darts, all pricked into several points on his body.

"What the-"

"Hm…? Prince Zuko!"

Iroh hurriedly stood up from the chair he had so obviously been sleeping in. His eyes held a strange mix of gratitude and…apprehension?

"Uncle? What's going on? Why are you calling me that?"

He sighed and looked away, choosing his words carefully.

"Our cover is not needed here. We…" He stopped, taking an even deeper sigh as he frowned in frustration. "We are no longer in the Earth Kingdom."

"We're not?"

"No, you're not."

From the shadows a man stepped forth wearing a black coat and green scarf. He was clutching the end of a cane in his hand, even though he clearly had no need for it.

"Who are you? Where have you taken us!?"

"My name is Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon academy. You're in one of our medical bays on the academy's grounds. You, however prince Zuko, are a most interesting young man if your uncle is telling the truth."

"You told him who we are? Why!?"

"We… we have no need to hide anymore, it would seem."

His uncle looked downright despondent, as if all hope had been drained away from him.

"Uncle, what is going on?"

Zuko's question was steady, but adamant. Something had happened, and his uncle was clearly not looking forward to telling him. But damn it all, he needed to know.

"Zuko, it seems… It seems that a spirit has...taken us away."

"…taken us?"

Ozpin watched on in silence, looking over every inch of the boy to see his reaction. His uncle's story was ludicrous, but the man seemed genuine. His nephew's reactions would help him decide if he were to believe him.

"A spirit has taken us…to a world not of our own."

"Not of our own? Uncle, now isn't the time for riddles. What has happened?"

"The world we knew is gone. The Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, the Northern and Southern Water Tribes do not exist here."

"Wha…What? That's…that's not possible!" He pointed an accusatory finger over at Ozpin. "What lies have you been feeding my Uncle!?"

Ozpin didn't react in anger, or even react much at all really. He simply continued to watch the young man curiously. It was strange, he seemed completely confused and angry, the perfect response… _if_ his uncle was telling the truth.

"I have told your uncle nothing but the truth, and you'll be pleased to know he didn't believe me until it was proved to him."

Lazily, Ozpin raised his hand clutching some rectangle in it. He did something with it and there was a flash of light on the wall. Zuko stared at the wall which now held what seemed like a painting of a red-headed man wearing a hat.

"The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."

Zuko looked all over to find the voice, his mouth dropping as the painting shifted to that of a blue haired woman, a smaller painting just over her shoulder of strange animal-eared people holding signs.

"Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted-"

A fireball tore into the wall, morphing the painting into a series of waving black and blue lines. Lightning seemed to spark around the edges of where Zuko had blasted a hole in it.

"What are you!? Some kind of sorcerer!?"

"Prince Zuko please, it is-"

"It's quite alright, Mr. Iroh. Prince Zuko, it would seem that your…'world', does not exist here. That was a television, simply a piece of technology."

"The fire-nation is the most advanced nation there is! And there's nothing we have that can make…moving walls, or whatever you say it was!"

"So you say, and yet you just saw it, didn't you?"

"I don't know what I saw, but…the fire-nation is not gone! You're lying to me! You have to be! One piece of technology doesn't mean the world is gone!"

"My nephew, please…" Iroh looked pleadingly at him to listen. "I have seen many things while you were unconscious. Amazing things, impossible things. I have seen the maps of this world too, they look nothing like our own."

"Forgeries! Fakes! Uncle I can't believe you're naïve enough to-"

"I have seen the world outside of this room too!" Iroh wasn't angry, even if he had shouted. His nephew may not have seen it, but Ozpin could see how desperate the man was becoming. From what he'd seen so far, the teenager was very…volatile. Ready and willing to protect his uncle to be sure, but not quite wise enough to recognize when he was only making more trouble.

"Uncle, that doesn't mean anything-"

"I have seen the work outside of this room, and I have never seen anywhere like it before. I was born in the fire nation, I know my homeland just as you do. I took an army, and I conquered my way across the Earth Kingdom. After… Afterwards, I came with you, and we travelled across the world. Never in my life, have I seen such a place as this."

"Even you said the Earth Kingdom still has its secrets."

"And do you, Prince Zuko, think that anyone could keep a secret such as this?"

As if to prove the point, a metal door at the far end of the room opened and closed itself as a blonde woman stepped inside.

"Ozpin, the new students are arriving."

"Thank you, Glynda. I'll be along in a moment."

'Glynda' nodded in silence, sparing a glance towards the increasingly horrified looking boy in the hospital bed before she turned and left.

Zuko's mind was racing. He trusted his uncle more than anyone, and even if he didn't…what he said was right. What he'd seen, what his uncle had apparently been shown, there was no way anyone could keep something like that a secret, even if they _were_ lying.

Either people would leave and spread the word, or they'd be forced to stay and the disappearances would attract attention. They couldn't be the _first_ to find this place. They'd found it by total accident, by waking up in the middle of nowhere. Not to mention that the technology would take a _long_ time to create. Far too long to go unnoticed. The mechanist's abilities most certainly hadn't. He'd been contracted by the Fire Nation before Zuko had been banished when word had spread from neighboring Earth Kingdom villages.

But if it couldn't be kept hidden, and it wasn't fake…

"No…no no no."

He made to get off the bed and felt himself roughly tugged back by the wires in his chest. He roughly yanked them out, blood drops spattering across the bed. A loud and alien noise began to blare in protest, and Ozpin quickly shut off the alarms.

Zuko turned away from the headmaster and darted towards the window. He was about to thrust it open when he froze, his eyes coming to rest in the sky.

"The moon…"

It was broken. Shards of debris trailed behind her, as if the moon spirit had been killed and her body strewn across the sky. It wasn't possible. Zhao had killed the moon and it disappeared, this was…it wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Yet here he was, staring right up at the mutilated corpse of the Water Tribe spirit.

Zuko tightly clutched his short hair in panic. If it was real, if this wasn't…'his' world then…

"I can't go home." It was barely even a whisper, but it was enough to shock his uncle with fear. "I can never go home again."

Zuko's eyes looked empty, his desperate hands weakened and fell limply by his side.

"No, Zuko! You must never give into despair! Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself."

"What hope!? What is there to hope for!? It's gone! Everything's gone! My nation! My family! My honor! I will never get it back! Everything I've worked my _life_ for, is…is…"

His head fell into his hands, and for the first time in a long time. Zuko began to cry.

Iroh wrapped his nephew up in a hug, whispering soothing words into his ear as he rocked him. Zuko didn't hear them. He didn't care about what his uncle had to say, or about anything anymore. His entire life…was over.

* * *

'Not an act.' Ozpin thought to himself as he quietly exited the room. Glynda motioned to him and he followed, if only to allow himself to continue with his thoughts.

The teenager, who had seemed so proud and angry when he'd woken up, was now openly sobbing in his uncle's arms.

'No, definitely not an act.'

The boy truly believed he had lost everything. Whether he had or not was still in doubt. There had never been a recorded instance of someone transporting to a different reality before of course. Even an aura power had never been known to do anything even remotely like that.

'Could the boy and his uncle have been manipulated?'

Possible. There were some _very_ dangerous aura abilities which were known to affect one's mind. Though why someone would do that still needed to be answered. It took a lot of work to implant someone with fake memories, and unless they were done _extremely_ well, the slightest inconsistency would shatter the façade. Add that together with the fact that they were dumped in the middle of Emerald Forest _somehow_. Qrow hadn't stayed long enough for Ozpin to see him, no doubt because he wanted it that way, but he'd passed along a message through a nurse.

 _They appeared from a ball of fire. Unconscious, and completely clueless when they woke up._

Somebody wanted them here, at this school. If they had good intentions, there were many better ways to send them to Beacon. If whoever sent them did it for nefarious reasons…

' _Perhaps I should send them away. Into Vale perhaps, away from the students.'_

 **Let him in.**

Ozpin whirled around on his feet, stopping suddenly in the middle of the hallway. His eyes searched every crack in sight, and every hide away there was.

"Ozpin?"

"…It's nothing, Glynda. Thought I…never mind."

What had he been searching for again? It didn't matter. He had to decide what to do with his new guests. 'Zuko' was the right age to enroll, however his uncle obviously couldn't attend, even if they _did_ have the money to afford it. Which they didn't. Unless…

Like somebody had pushed the idea into his mind, he felt the beginnings of a plan forming.

There was a position open in the kitchen which the uncle could fill. House him in one of the spare staff dorms, with rent of course. But Zuko…he would need a scholarship for entry. Not an academic one, if his story was true then any teaching he'd have would be near useless. The combat scholarship then.

It had been originally given to Miss Pyrrha Nikos, but some clerical error had given Beacon the budget for two scholarships. Not until registrations had closed however, which made it pointless. Now however…

Ozpin smiled to himself with pride.

 _'Initiation is tomorrow Prince Zuko, I think you'll find that your life hasn't ended just yet.'_

* * *

 **AN:** Alright here we go, third chapter down and it's getting closer towards the title of the story. Which I guess is, sort of a spoiler but...it's in the name. So a couple things I should probably get to addressing, the first is that no, the spirit stuff won't be there to solve each and every little problem I can assure you of that. Think of it more along the lines of...grease on a wheel. Which is most certainly _not_ a spoiler. The second is in regards of shipping and again, I won't say too much because I don't want to spoil anything, but I will neither confirm nor deny that there will be shipping in this story. While I have the first volume written with the second in progress, and have planned up to the third and a bit beyond, I will not say if there will be relationships, or that if there are then what they will be, I am mainly curious about what other readers/fans of the show(s) think about it. Finally, getting a lot of really cool reviews at the moment guys. While I really appreciate each review which tells me how much people have enjoyed a chapter, or what they thought was interesting, the highlights for me have been those that have been pretty detailed. As a writer, and a reader, those have been the most help, so keep them coming guys and gals, and thanks for all the support. Or advice, or...whatever word really fits there, I'm not sure. Oh hey, Team RWBYZ got recommended on the RWBY Reddit page too! Which is _awesome_.


	4. Destiny

**Chapter 4 – Destiny**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

Zuko didn't dream that night. He felt too tired to dream. His uncle had held him for hours until he was so exhausted he'd imply gone limp in his arms. The elderly man had laid him down in the bed and nestled himself into a chair watching over him.

At first, he'd been out like a light. Then, after just a few short hours, he'd woken up again. He didn't move though. He didn't see the point. Why move? What was he going to move to do? There was no crewmembers to command or inspect, no village they had to reach. There was…nothing. So he'd laid there, and emptied his mind of all thoughts. Every plan he'd ever made, every hope he'd ever had…he let them all drift away.

After what must have been an eternity, the sun rose, and Zuko felt its familiar embrace touch him again. His uncle stirred, likewise feeling the strength of Agni fill him. Zuko was turned away, but he could practically _feel_ his uncles eyes wander over him.

"Prince Zuko…?"

He said nothing. He _did_ nothing.

"…are you hungry?"

As he heard nothing but silence, Iroh sighed to himself. He was afraid of this. For years he had worried that his nephew would lose hope. He almost had before they had sighted the Avatar, and then he was more alive than he had been for _years_. Now…no more avatar. No more hope.

"Prince Zuko, what will you do now?"

"…nothing."

"Nothing? Will you simply stay here for the rest of your life? Never eating, never sleeping? Until you waste away into nothingness?"

"…maybe."

"…I felt like you once. In Ba Sing Se, when I heard that my-… I didn't know what I would do. I took my army, and I returned home a broken man. But life did not end. I found myself a new life, and a new purpose. Sometimes life is like a dark tunnel, you can't always see the light at the end, but if you just keep moving, you will come to a better place."

"What better place?" Zuko lifted his head up and looked tiredly at his uncle. "What do I do?"

"You could attend Beacon."

The two fire benders turned to see Ozpin standing in the doorway.

"I don't know if I will ever believe what you two have told me, but I _do_ believe that you need help."

"We most certainly do. My nephew and I…well, we don't exactly have many places to go…"

"Clearly. Which is why I would recommend that Zuko studies here at Beacon Academy, so that he may be trained as a Huntsman."

Zuko lazily glanced over to the man. "A what?"

"Huntsmen and Huntresses; the best and brightest warriors of Remnant, ranking higher than Kingdom police and even military, in terms of strength, and skill. The occupation was established alongside the Huntsmen academies after the Great War, with the hope of creating elite warriors whose sole purpose would be to combat the creatures of Grimm."

"Grimm?" Zuko sat upright in his bed, only somewhat intrigued, but polite enough to at least extend the man the courtesy of listening.

"The Creatures of Grimm; a ravenous, destructive force that covers the majority of Remnant. While often referred to simply as 'Grimm', these beings are the greatest foe to mankind. For as long as humanity can recall walking the surface of Remnant, they remember this wicked force."

Something flickered in Zuko's mind. One thought quickly connecting to another. "Those things that we faced when we woke up…were they Grimm?"

"From what I've been told, yes. And you were quite lucky you were trained, Grimm wreak havoc on any undefended village they can find." Ozpin stepped closer until he was just beside his bed. "You have potential Zuko, one I would like to help you improve. But to do that, I need you here, attending classes and studying with the other students."

"I'm not going _anywhere_ without my uncle. Besides, we don't even have any money. How could I afford to come here?"

"You won't need to worry about that. Your uncle can stay here and help in the kitchen. For you, your expenses will be covered under our combat scholarship."

"That sounds wonderful! Zuko, this could be a new chance for you."

Zuko was silent, his eyes not meeting the two adults as he sat in thought.

"Uncle. Why should I bother to become a Huntsman? I fought, for so long to find the Avatar. To bring him back to my father, and restore my honour. And it was all for nothing."

"Yes, you have. You struggled. You suffered. But you have always followed your own path. Why not choose the path that fate has opened for you? I do not believe that you would be sent here without reason. You may find that it is your _true_ destiny to become a Huntsman."

Zuko went quiet.

"I'll need your answer in a few hours Prince Zuko. If you decide yes, let the nurse just outside this room know." Ozpin turned and made to leave the room, stopping just as he opened the door. "I have a good feeling about you, Prince Zuko. I hope that you decide to stay."

The door slid shut by itself, and the room was silent once again.

"…your thoughts, Prince Zuko?"

"…is there any way we can return home?"

Iroh cupped his chin thoughtfully. He'd mulled over every choice they could make while Zuko was asleep, but he did it again anyway for him. "If we were brought here by a spirit, and it does not seem that these people know of them…then I believe not, Prince Zuko."

He knew it was coming, yet even after the previous day it still hurt to accept it. "What if we went somewhere else? Find a city, get some jobs, and then we'll…"

"We'll what?"

"…I don't know."

Zuko and his uncle sat in silence once more. One awaiting a decision, the other struggling to make it.

A voice from nowhere broke the silence of their contemplation.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

Zuko recognised it as that of the woman who'd entered the room the day before. Glynda, if he was correct. He didn't even bother searching for her, he already knew the room was empty. It was just another mocking example of this world's strange technology.

* * *

At the top of Beacon Cliff, just overlooking the Emerald Forest, students were lined up on silver tiles. Behind them, stood Professor Ozpin and Glynda, the former enjoying a fresh cup of coffee.

Ozpin took the lead in addressing the new students, his voice clear and rehearsed. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." He motioned for Glynda to take over for him.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

Ozpin switched with Glynda as she pulled out a tablet and began to make preparations. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

A blonde-haired boy in armour raised his hand. "Yeah, um, sir?"

"Good! Now, take your positions."

The students readied themselves on their tiles, pulling their weapons to the ready and bracing themselves. All, except for one…

"Uh, sir? I've got, um... a question." Behind him, a tile rose up into a spring, and rocketed a white-haired student away. "So, this landing... strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling."

"Oh, uh, I see... So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own 'landing strategy.'"

"Uh-huh... Yeah."

"So, what exactly is a landing strategYYY!..." Having not paid attention as the other students were launched, Jaune found himself being flung through the air as he ineptly tried to balance himself. Standing calmly on the cliff, Ozpin merely took a sip of his drink at the sight.

* * *

"…I'll do it."

The nurse nodded to Zuko and pulled out a device from her pocket as she walked away.

"You did the right thing, Prince Zuko. This will be the beginning of a new adventure for you."

"I don't _care_ about adventure. I just don't know what else to do."

"True, we _do_ need somewhere to stay. But you've always strived to protect people, even when you were a little boy. I believe, this will be very good for you."

Zuko sighed and hung his head in resignation. His uncles reassuring hand on his shoulder failed to lift his spirit. He was a prince! A warrior! He'd already received his education from the palace tutors, now he'd have to waste his time doing it all over again. And with the dishonour of having his uncle slave away in the _kitchen,_ no less.

He was already starting to regret saying yes.

* * *

"The last pair has been formed, sir." Glynda tapped the screen of her tablet, showing the male and female walking with each other through the forest. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Miss Nikos." She tapped the tablet again, showing the redhead in question walking alongside Jaune.

"Mmmm…"

"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat." She deactivated her tablet and took a few steps away from the window. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. Speaking of which, have you given any thought to how you will handle our guest? He's already missed initiation, and we don't have even numbers anymore for the teams."

Ozpin answered without looking up from his own tablet as he typed away furiously. "One of the relics has been marked. Whichever partner group collects it, will have him added to their future team."

"A team of five? Won't that be unfair to the others?"

"From Qrow's testimonial, his combat skills are exemplary. But by his own statements, his academic skills will be atrocious."

"If his story's even true. And Qrow's hardly a reliable source anymore. He didn't even stay to tell you what he saw himself. Passing along a note of recommendation is _hardly_ proof of competence."

Ozpin said nothing, continuing to type away on his Scroll in deep concentration. After a moment, he laid the tablet down on his desk and slid it over to Glynda. She picked up with one hand and regarded it briefly.

"You've already made a combat scholarship offer?"

"He said yes just a short while ago. It requires _both_ our signatures."

Glynda laid the tablet down on the table and looked him in the eyes. "It's not like you to be this lenient, Ozpin. First Miss Rose, now this boy? Why?"

Ozpin stood up and walked over to the window behind his desk, gazing out into the distance. "There's something special about that boy, Glynda. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I feel that he _needs_ to come here. He needs to study here for his own good."

Glynda crossed her arms and looked him over. He wasn't acting like his normal self. Then again, he'd always liked to be mysterious with his plans. She sighed and signed her name on the tablet. "I trust you, headmaster. If you say it's for the best…"

He took the tablet and sent the form over to the nurse in the infirmary. "Thank you, Glynda."

* * *

"Just sign your name here."

Zuko stared at the glowing piece of glass she held before him. He hesitantly scribbled the royal emblem with his finger, still surprised as it morphed with every stroke as if it were a real scroll and his finger were a quill.

"Thank you, and as his guardian you will have to sign here, Mr Iroh."

"Oh ho ho, I'm hardly his guard. But, if you say so."

He stared even longer than Zuko had before slowly wiping his portly fingers along the 'Scroll'. The nurse stared at the smudge of a signature he'd made, before sighing and deciding it was clear enough. She put the tablet down on a nearby table and began to take out several items.

"Here is Zuko's key, he'll be staying in a dorm with his teammates who will be announced at the ceremony in a little while. Mr Iroh, you will be staying in one of the spare staff quarters on the fourth floor." There was a slight engraving of letters and numbers on Iroh's key, while Zuko's remained blank. They both took them without a word, even if Zuko seemed to snatch his in protest of being separated.

"Here is a map of the school. Normally students would download this onto their scroll, but in light of your…background. A physical copy has been provided for you. Here is your complimentary school equipment Zuko, including books, pens, and your uniform. Please wear it at all times when attending class, and go to the store if you need any replacements."

Zuko began to tune her out as she listed off item after item. Some things he _did_ pay attention to. Like his class schedule, the general rules, and the hours his uncle would be working. It was mostly stuff he could look at again later in the day if he needed to.

"Now that that's sorted. Let's head over to the ceremony so you can meet your new team, shall we?"

* * *

 **AN:** Four chapters down, how's everyone enjoying it all so far? From the comments you all seem to be very happy which is great. Had a couple of suggestions and concerns which is fine, I've actually gone through and revised a few things to make it, so far as I'm concerned, just that little bit better. Nothing major obviously, I wouldn't have started posting if i didn't like it, but just a few little details I felt that I should have included or expanded upon. The whole of volume 1 has a specific goal that it's aiming towards, and I feel like I accomplished it pretty well, so there isn't much to be done or that _could_ be done. Still, I do love hearing your guys and gals feedback, so keep it coming please!


	5. Ceremony

**Chapter 5 - Ceremony**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

Zuko trailed behind his guide as she guided him towards the auditorium. In part because of his relative disinterest in meeting his 'team'. The other part was that his uncle was continuously stopping to admire everything he saw. Zuko was impressed too, amazed even, but at least he had the sense to remain calm about it.

His uncle would 'ooh' and 'ahh' over every little thing while Zuko kept his face as stoic as possible. It was relatively easy to do after years aboard a warship, surrounded by sailors and marines who didn't respect him. Being told to follow the orders of a banished 13-year old had been humiliating to his crew, whether he was a prince or not. He'd quickly learned to hide his fears, his hesitations. If he wanted his crew to follow him, then they had to _know_ how determined he was, he couldn't afford to let them doubt him.

It would be very _strange_ to be back in charge again. Whoever these students were, they were probably not as disciplined as his men had been. They may have been his age, but he'd been trained in the royal military academy, and tutored personally by master Piandao. Ozpin may take pride in his Academy, but it wasn't likely to be as strict as even the most shameful of naval training facilities, let alone a match for his own.

"Because of your…distance from home, we won't be able to refer to you as Prince. Headmaster Ozpin has already made your profile for your application, but to call you a prince would make it very difficult to explain why…"

Zuko sighed, and mumbled that it was fine. He'd been hiding his rank ever since the failed invasion of the Northern Water Tribe. He knew who he was, he could deal with others not giving him the respect they should have. Somewhat…

"Now we're almost at the auditorium. Headmaster Ozpin has already started assigning teams, so just wait here in the back until your name is called, then make your way onto the stage."

The woman who had been leading him there gave a short, questioning nod to make sure they understood before she turned and left. Iroh turned to Zuko, a wide smile on his face in anticipation of meeting his new team.

 _'At least_ one _of us is excited._ _'_

Zuko shook his head to clear his mind of thoughts. He passed all of his new gear into his uncle's eager arms and faced the stage, listening intently for his name.

* * *

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." As Ozpin announced their names, the auditorium screen showed their profile pictures, while the students in question themselves lined up on the stage. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"

The audience gave another polite wave of ovation as the students exited. The screen cleared itself when the final member stepped off, and Ozpin prepared for the next group.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie." Much like the previous group, each member took their place as their names were called. "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR."

The crowd clapped for them as they stood straight in appreciation.

"Led by... Jaune Arc!"

The blonde-haired boy in question faltered slightly on the stage. "Huh? L-Led by...?"

"Congratulations, young man."

By his side, Pyrrha gave him a friendly shoulder bump. Which unfortunately sent the poor boy falling over the side and onto his butt, much to the amusement of the crowd.

"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long." He motioned, and the four ladies took their place on stage. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBYZ. Led by... Ruby Rose!"

Weiss openly gawked at the man's decision, while Yang tightly hugged her sister.

"I'm so proud of you!"

Ruby giggled as she playfully forced herself away. She paused however as soon as she had.

"Ummm…sir? Why did you call us…Rubies?"

The man smirked, and behind him the screen which had shown the girls' four profile pictures, moved to reveal a fifth slot.

"We have a rather special event this year. One of the pieces you chose was marked. This mark entitles you a special fifth member."

The crowd began to loudly mutter amongst themselves in discussion. Each and every student began to hatch theories as to who they might be gaining, and why. Ozpin hushed the crowd with a wave of his hand.

"Introducing our special guest and most recent student, Zuko Lee."

* * *

Zuko openly gawked. That wasn't his name! It was Zuko! Just Zuko! He was the prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, and when he was older he would be Fire Lord Zuko, to use a last name when he was of royal blood, it-…it wasn't proper! Even if it _was_ the fake name he'd been using. Zuko turned to Iroh furiously, his glare demanding an explanation.

"He said he needed a last name." Iroh shrugged innocently as he spoke, his smile never faltering.

Zuko grunted, annoyed. He didn't waste any more time however, and began to make his way towards the stage. He heard the whispers from the students, questions about who he was, where he was during whatever 'initiation' they'd had, and others…others about his scars. He didn't bother to keep the frown from his face as he heard their remarks. It was what everyone saw first, what everyone _judged_ him for. His lifelong mark of shame.

There was a snap in his mind as a sudden thought shot through. Something Ozpin had said, something _very_ irritating.

 _'_ _Led by Ruby Rose._ _'_

So he was ranked _under_ somebody!? That was wrong! He may not have been able to be treated as a prince here, but he still _was_. He clenched his fists in frustration as he walked up the steps and onto the stage. His 'team' regarded him with excited smiles mostly, one of them, 'Weiss' if he'd heard correctly, still looked grumpy with her team selection. He couldn't blame her. One glance over the four other girls and he knew his pessimism was warranted. One wearing all black and a bow, a stuck up looking girl in a dress, a child, and then a blonde girl who so _clearly_ felt the need to make use of her…appearance.

* * *

The crowd cheered as the final team exited the stage. The ceremony was complete, and all the new groups were eager to rush off and find their dorms. Ozpin watched as one particularly grumpy fire bender followed his team in a huff.

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an...interesting year."

It would do him some good to _follow_ orders instead of give them. From what his uncle had told Ozpin, he was only willing to listen to two people in the world. His uncle…and his father. Ozpin didn't know what the situation was with the man, but he could hear clear as day the sheer _spite_ that the man held when he'd said his name. Ozai.

Whoever he was, Ozpin never wanted to meet him.

* * *

"So you are my nephew's team? I must admit, I hadn't expected him to be placed with such lovely ladies."

Zuko practically shuddered in a mix of rage and disgust as his uncle 'bonded' with his new teammates. The women in question all seemed to take it rather light-heartedly. Except for Weiss. She was still fuming over her new leader.

"Thanks gramps, how come you're here anyways? I didn't know family could visit so soon."

'Yang' was walking right beside Iroh, gleefully following behind Zuko as he lead the team with his map in hand.

"Oh, I'm not visiting, I'll be working in the kitchen while my nephew studies. He got a… what was it called again?"

"Combat scholarship."

"That's right! A combat scholarship! He's always been _such_ a good fighter. Unfortunately, I still need somewhere to stay, so I work here and get to live here too!"

"Wait, he got a _combat_ scholarship?" Well well, Weiss had apparently snapped out of her sulky mood enough to indulge her own interest. "How!? I thought they already gave that spot to Pyrrha Nikos?"

"Apparently there was some sort of mistake, and they got a double slot or…something. Personally, I think they were just so impressed by my nephew that they just _had_ to have him."

"Wow!" The youngest rushed up to Zuko's side, gazing at him in awe. "You must be so awesome! Can I see your weapon!? Please!? Pretty please!?"

 _'What is_ with _this girl?_ _'_ Zuko sighed and pulled his dual broadswords out of their sheath on his back. "Here. Don't cut yourself."

She gazed at them in awe, for a moment. "Uhhh…what else do they do?"

"What? They don't _do_ anything else. They're Dual Broadswords."

"Yeah…but my scythe transforms."

He looked at her in confusion, and she promptly unfurled her giant scythe in the middle of the hallway. "See?"

Zuko stopped, taking in the shapeshifting piece of metal before him. Then, shook his head and continued on, becoming increasingly annoyed by all the weird technology he'd been seeing. Moving boxes that took you to different floors, then magic weapons. Fortunately, Iroh saw an opportunity to help him.

"I'm afraid that our family is a bit more, uhh…traditional. Do… _all_ of you girls have similar weapons?"

"Yep." The blonde stepped forwards, raising her fists to show off the yellow gauntlets around her wrists. "I call these babies, Ember Cilica." She pumped her arms and the metal expanded out across her hands and forearms. "They're Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets."

"Uhhh…"

"She punches things." Ruby interjected, much to Iroh's appreciation.

"Ah…of course. And you miss…"

"Blake." She pulled out a thick, grey sheath which had a sharpened edge. "It's a Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe. I can use it as a sword, or a chain, or a gun."

"Uhhhhhh- How about you miss Weiss?" Iroh eagerly changed person as he became lost again.

"Weiss Schnee, of the Schnee Dust Company." She held out her hand to shake Iroh's, who seemed rather pleased by her manners as he eagerly responded in kind. "My weapon is Myrtenaster, a Multi Action Dust Rapier."

She held it up to show him. "Ohhh this one I know! Uhh, kind of. I don't know about the strange gems in the handle, but didn't Master Piandao teach you this one too?"

Zuko glanced back at the Rapier, giving it a once over, much to Weiss's interest. "A couple times. Not my style though."

"I suppose that makes sense. My nephew isn't exactly one for patient duelling. He likes to…"

Zuko drowned out the rest of the conversation as Iroh continued to socialise on his behalf. He was focused on reading off the door numbers as he passed them by, counting down carefully until…

"Here it is."

The team stopped, and Zuko used his key to open the door. Thankfully it was a normal lock, not some technological wonder that would have made Zuko look like a fool. It still temporarily stumped him that they had somehow put a padlock _inside_ the door handle.

When he opened the door however, he was stumped once again.

"There's…four beds."

"Great, one of us has to sleep on the _floor_." Weiss grumbled as she walked inside. Much to Zuko's confusion.

"Do you…all have this room?"

"Yeah? What's the deal?" It was Yang speaking as she was the next to step inside.

Zuko didn't answer, instead double, and then triple checking the engraving on his key against the one on the door. "I can't sleep in here with four girls!"

Yang crossed her arms and gave him an angry look. She severely hoped that she hadn't just been put in a team with some sexist.

"It's-…it's not proper!"

The four girls were silent for a while, before Yang burst out laughing. Weiss rolled her eyes at him before she responded. "Just keep your clothes on and we'll be _fine_."

Iroh laughed loudly behind him. "I don't see the problem, Zuko, you've shared rooms before."

"That was with grown, male, marines, it's not the same!"

"Hahaha, you know I see your point. After all, you are a single man surrounded by four single women."

Zuko choked, and quickly slammed the door behind him as he raced inside and away from his uncle. Iroh's gleeful laughter boomed through the door as he walked off to find his own room.

Inside the dorm, there was an awkward silence as Zuko stared at the door, refusing to make contact with the four women now staring at him. There was a snicker, then a giggle, and then the two sisters began to openly laugh at the old man's antics, with Blake enjoying a small chuckle herself.

Zuko groaned and smacked his head against the wall. He tossed his bags onto the floor near the corner.

"I'll take the floor."

None of the others answered, all either too busy laughing away at him, or already unpacking some of their things.

* * *

For the evening meal in the cafeteria, Zuko didn't even bother to stay near his team, splitting off from them as soon as he spied an empty seat in the distance. There was a small complaint from Ruby as soon as he had begun to leave, though it was quickly drowned out beneath a wave of chattering teenagers.

It took him a moment when he sat down before he began to feel a little stupid. He'd been so focused on getting himself some privacy that he'd completely forgotten to get himself any food. A tray of it however, was promptly placed right in front of him.

"Thank you for the seat, dear nephew, though wouldn't you rather be sat with your new friends?"

His uncle sat down opposite him, a similar tray in one hand, and two metal cans in the other.

"They're not my friends, and what is…this?"

It was some kind of squashed bread, with sauce and meat topping it. It certainly didn't look like anything he'd ever seen before. Neither Fire Nation, nor Earth Kingdom. The Water Tribes couldn't even _make_ bread, so he didn't even bother to think about them.

"Apparently it is called pizza, a delicacy here I believe."

Zuko cast a look around the room, watching as several other teenagers eagerly dug into the thing like animals. Disgusting.

"Well this 'delicacy' is still covered in grease." He tilted the tray slightly to show his uncle, who could almost see his own face in the sheen that reflected back to him. "Even you can't cook as bad as this."

"Well, I admit it's a little…different. Perhaps a drink instead?"

He held up one of the metal cans to Zuko's face, some kind of paint telling him that it was some kind of grape drink. Why it was in a can, Zuko had no idea. Speaking of which…

"How do you open it?"

For a moment, Iroh's cheery optimism faltered as he pondered that himself. There was a piece of metal sticking out of the side, which was clearly a sign of bad workmanship, but there was no sign of any kind of lid for it. With a sigh, Zuko took out his small pearl-handled dagger and stabbed it into the top, a spray of purple liquid squirting out of the new opening as he took it out. After he'd wiped his dagger to clean it at least somewhat, Zuko took a gulp.

And then immediately spat it out.

"What is wrong with this thing, I've never tasted something so sweet in my whole life!"

He threw the can away, making a mess of the ground where it landed and began to spill out. With all the mess created by the other students however, it went on unnoticed.

"Even the food is wrong!"

Zuko let his head slam down onto the table, too exhausted to complain further. He didn't even say anything as he begrudgingly began to rip off pieces of his 'food' and eat it.

* * *

Ruby frowned as she glimpsed Zuko in the distance. He just went and left them as soon as they entered the room so that he could go and sit by himself. It actually made her kind of sad…

"So…did anyone know what Zuko meant when he said about sleeping with _marines_?"

Ruby turned away from the scarred boy and back to her sister, who had quickly grabbed the attention of the rest of their team with her question. For a brief moment, every girl at the table was deep in thought. Nobody could think of anything definitive if their blank looks were anything to go by, so Ruby decided to make a guess.

"Maybe he was in the Navy?"

"No way, he's too young to serve." Weiss looked…somewhat confident in her answer.

"Oh…maybe it was his uncle then?" The girls looked intrigued, so Ruby continued. "Like, maybe, his uncle was in the navy, and then Zuko went with him? Or something…I dunno…"

Weiss considered it for a moment, before dismissing it with a shake of the head. "That old man? No way _he_ was in the military."

"Really? Well, why not?"

"Are you kidding me? Well for starters, did you see the way he reacted to seeing our weapons? It was like he'd never even seen them before!"

"But, he hasn't seen-"

"Not ours specifically, Ruby! You dunce, I meant transforming gear in general. Even if he wasn't a huntsman there's no way he wouldn't have seen them at least somewhere. Secondly, if he was in the navy, then why isn't he doing some kind of combat class instead of working in a kitchen? And thirdly, just look at him!" She waved her arm over to the elderly man, who was happily devouring his pizza with a jolly old smile on his face. "Does someone like _that_ look like ex-military to you?"

"Wow Weiss, that was mean." Yang chimed in, even if she didn't necessarily disagree, before a grin decorated her face. "In fact, you could say it was as cold as _Weiss_. Get it? 'Cause it sounds like ice!"

The stares which looked back at her were a mix of disappointment, confusion, and disgust.

"Did she just…?"

"Sorry." Ruby apologised on her sister's behalf, knowing the blonde never would. "She does that."

* * *

 **AN:** Chapter 5 is done, what did you all think? This was actually one of the most recent chapters to have a little rewrite, with just some extra bits being added here and there. For some reason, I couldn't actually upload this as the word document like I normally use, instead I had to copy and paste it, _then_ change some things from the formatting. Anyway, it should have come out just fine, but let me know if it doesn't.

Oh yeah, so the way I've got this story planned out is that I'll be releasing chapters once a week around the same time, until the end of a volume. Then I'll be doing a break before posting the next volume, just to make sure it's all completed and so on. I've already mentioned this once before but, as well as just letting people know who hadn't read that part, I also had the idea of maybe doing a little Q&A, or an FAQ or something, after the end of each volume, just to answer any general questions or address any feedback that people have had in regards to the volume that's just ended. You'll notice that I've not really taken to answering specific comments in the AN, mainly because it would get too long otherwise. If I posted a chapter that was 4k words long, but a thousand of that was just the review answering, it would be pretty dissapointing I imagine. Hence, I want to maybe save it for a seperate "buffer" chapter between volumes. Does that sound like something you guys/girls would be interested in? I'd probably throw in a few behind the scenes things as well, mention some things that either got rewrote, or cut out entirely. Anyway, why not let me know what you thought of the chapter and of my idea in a review? I hoped you enoyed the chapter!


	6. The First Day

**Chapter 6** **–** **The First Day**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

The moon shone brightly through the warehouse window, providing an ample view of the table sat at the back of the shadowy room. Roman Torchwick held his scroll up to his ear, the sounds of a conversation muffled, but present. The call ended, and Roman angrily slammed the phone down onto the desk, raising a cigar to his mouth to relax himself. A man with a grey mask and a black hood pushed a trolley up to the desk. Roman reached into his jacket and pulled out a wad of Lien, throwing it onto the side of the table.

"Open it."

The masked man raised a crowbar, and prised open the box on the trolley. As he lifted the lid, he revealed a large amount of dust crystals sat neatly inside. Orange, blue, white, red, green, and a multitude of other colours shone back at Roman as he looked them over. Reaching inside, he plucked out a blue gem and held it up for inspection.

"We're gonna need more men."

* * *

Zuko's eyes drifted open slowly as he felt Agni's rays fill him with life. Even in some weird, different world or wherever he was, he would still feel fire each time he rose. He took some comfort in that.

He was up and moving before any of the others in the room, their soft snoozing looking almost cute in a childlike way. Except for Yang, who was snoring worse than uncle as she lay tangled up in her blankets. What a high class lady.

He ignored them as he made his way into their bathroom, a set of clothes draped over his arm. He didn't recognise much in the room beyond the bathtub. Indoor plumbing may have been a fire nation invention, and a feat of engineering that propelled the nation's health to the highest in the world, but apparently here it was just yet another ordinary thing. He felt a pang of anger at that.

It took him a while, but he eventually managed to figure out how to use the shower. He had been tempted to bathe, the tub being the way he normally kept himself clean, but he didn't have enough time. Not that it mattered in the end, as he found himself frozen in front of the mirror.

 _'_ _So this is it._ _'_

The reflection of himself, dressed head to toe in his new uniform seemed to mock him. He was a prince, but not here.

His fists clenched in anger, and his good eye locked onto his reflected burn.

 _'_ _If I can find a way back, I promise I will make you proud, father. I_ will _get my honour back._ _'_

If only he knew a way.

"Hey, Zuko! Quit hogging the bathroom!"

Yang's shout and banging on the door brought him back to his new reality, and he turned and left. The blonde grinned as he passed her, completely failing to take note of how she was stood right next to him in her pyjamas. She disappeared inside with her own uniform, as he sat down on his mattress.

He took out one of the textbooks he had been given, and flipped through it searchingly. If there was any mention of different worlds, he needed to know.

* * *

"Good morning, Team RWBYZ!"

Weiss fell on the floor, rudely awakened by Ruby's cheer. She sat up straight and practically screamed back at her. "What in the world is wrong with you?"

"Now that you're awake, we can officially begin our first order of business."

"Excuse me?"

Yang held up a box with posters and books jutting out of it. "Decorating!"

"What?!"

Blake lifted her suitcase onto her bed. "We still have to unpack." She opened the case, spilling all her belongings across her sheets. "Aaaand clean."

Weiss groaned and turned her head towards the sole male occupant of their dorm, who had dressed in his new uniform along with the others. But something about him seemed to be…missing…

"Hey Zuko, where's your stuff?"

The other girls looked at him questioningly, having not thought of that themselves. He gave the bag by his feet a slight kick. "That's it."

"That's _it_? What, a change of clothes and some swords."

"Two sets." He corrected, thinking of the blue spirit disguise he kept buried in the bottom of the bag. "And a knife, but…yeah."

"What?" Yang looked incredulously at him, even as she was hanging up a poster of some group called 'THE ACHIEVE MEN'. "You don't have _anything_ else? Not even some pictures?"

"No." He was growing increasingly annoyed by their decorating. On his ship, he'd been free to hang a flag, decorate his walls with his swords, and store some meditation candles. Even if that was essentially _all_ he'd done, it was still less spartan than what being on the run had done to him. He didn't even have his Earth Kingdom hat to complete the set of rags he wore as clothes.

"So…" Ruby nervously tapped the ends of her fingers together. "Does this mean we can use your space?"

"Go ahead." Honestly, so long as he got a place to sleep he could deal with it. _Would_ deal with it.

Ruby cheered and began to position her scythe on the wall. Likewise, the rest of the team began to decorate their own little corners of the room. Weiss hung a poster of some forest that was apparently called 'Forever Fall', while Blake had set about unpacking her books.

All the while, Zuko was sat bored out of his mind on the floor. He couldn't leave since he at least needed to make sure he got somewhere to sleep, and he couldn't even sharpen his swords since he didn't have a whetstone. So he tried to make himself a little bit more comfortable in his uniform.

It was painfully constricting, particularly around his neck. Thankfully though, it was at least mostly black, and it even had some orange in with it as well. Orange was close enough to red in his mind, and he was thankful the black wasn't something worse like a dark blue. He managed having to disguise himself as some Earth Kingdom peasant, but a Water Tribal? He shivered at the thought.

When the girls were finally done, they had ended up pulling all the beds into the centre of the room before they realised the problem. Ever grumpy, Weiss felt the need to point it out first.

"This isn't going to work."

"It is a bit cramped." To her surprise, Blake agreed with her.

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff..." Yang suggested, though not with the intention of losing any of her _own_ things.

Ruby snapped her fingers as she had a brain wave. "Or we could ditch the beds... and replace them with bunk beds!"

"Umm, that sounds incredibly dangerous."

"And super-awesome!"

"It does seem efficient."

"Well, we should put it to a vote!" Weiss crossed her arms in frustration, not exactly _enamoured_ with the idea of trusting her life in Ruby's construction skills.

"I think we just did."

"That's not true, Zuko hasn't voted." She turned on him expectantly, only to find him already trying to hang his mattress from the corner ceiling. He paused as he felt her eyes bare down on him.

"You ladies do what you want."

With his vote now received, he returned to knotting some ropes together as the other girls began to awkwardly mount their beds on one another. They ended up using a mixture of ropes, and book stacking to fit the beds in place, with Ruby hanging a blanket over hers to form a tent. Zuko's was much the same as it was before, only hanging in the air with a series of ropes serving as reinforcement.

"Objective complete!" Ruby cheered, standing back to appreciate their work. "Allllright! Our second order of business iiiiiiiis...classes... Now, we have a few classes together today. At 9, we've got to be-"

"What?! Did you say 9 o'clock?" Weiss shrieked as she leapt to her feet.

"Uuuum..."

"It's 8:55, you dunce!"

Weiss didn't wait for a response before she was sprinting out the room and down the hall.

"Um… To class!"

* * *

"Monsters! _Deeeemons_... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!"

Zuko stared in silence at the professor's terrible joke. He'd gotten lost _very_ early in the class when the man had begun using all sorts of terms Zuko had never heard of. He glanced at the notebook by his hand, pages upon pages filled with questions.

 _What_ _'_ _s a Fanus?_

 _What_ _'_ _s aura?_

 _Four kingdoms?_

 _Age of human existence?_

 _Dust powers?_

After a while, he'd simply given up and tried his best to at least pick up what he could. He'd figured out at least that Dust was some sort of material that powered things, much like how the Fire Nation had been using coal for their ships.

"Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely _teeming_ with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses... Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the _very world_!"

Zuko groaned to himself. Could this teacher _be_ any more dramatic? He'd already been charged with capturing the second most powerful being in the world when he was a child. The Avatar practically _was_ the world's power, being second only to Zuko's own father.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..."

Giving up, Zuko let his head slam onto his desk.

 _'_ _Even the Royal Tutors weren_ _'_ _t_ this _boring, the bunch of stuck up old know it alls._ _'_

Zuko allowed himself to dream that he was back in the palace again. First the tutors would drill him on fire nation history, each and every day as if something new had happened since. Later would be the war lessons. Logistics, moral, terrain strengths, supply lines, intelligence operations, Zuko had covered all of it.

"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me..."

Later in the day would be combat training. Always fire bending, never his swords. Nobody, save for his uncle, really knew that he was actually trained in sword fighting. His uncle, and master Piandao.

"In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"

The man wasn't supposed to have been teaching Zuko the way of the sword. He'd actually been sent to the man to learn battle tactics from his days in the war. Until one day, Zuko had picked up a sword, and became one with it. It was wrong though. He shouldn't have learnt it, even if it _had_ been useful later on. He should have spent that time _fire bending_ so that he hadn't been such a dishonourable failure.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!"

Of course that was all he was really, a failure. Never listening, never succeeding. Always failing when people had been counting on him.

"A true Huntsman must be dependable!"

Like that war council. His uncle had been counting on him to keep quiet. To _know_ that it wasn't okay to speak. But instead, he'd been an idiot.

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"

Zuko gritted his hands in rage. Now, he'd never be able to right his mistakes. He'd _never_ get his honour back.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do, sir!"

The shout snapped Zuko from his spiralling thoughts as he looked to see who it was. For some reason, Weiss was now standing up in the classroom with her hand raised, and also casting a very _non-_ subtle glare over at Ruby.

"Wonderful! As per his scholarship requirements however…I'm afraid that I must choose Mr Lee for this demonstration."

Weiss grumpily sat back down into her seat, and the classroom went silent.

"Uh…Mr Lee? Zuko?"

Zuko glanced up to see Professor Port gazing right at him.

"…yes?"

"Please change into your combat attire. You have an opponent to face."

He gestured towards the cage in the corner of the room. It shook fiercely as whatever was inside of it expressed its…displeasure, at being locked up. Still confused, Zuko got up and left the room.

* * *

When he returned with his swords and Earth Kingdom robes, the classroom was practically bursting with anticipation for the fight. All the time they'd had to spend waiting had made them eager to finally see some action, so much so that there was almost a cheer when Zuko arrived.

He took his place at the front of the classroom, the large rattling cage opposite him.

"Goooo, Zuko!" Called Yang, pumping her fist in the air with excitement.

"Fight well!" Blake was far more restrained, even if she was waving a small flag with RWBYZ printed on it. Ruby on the other hand, took after her sister.

"Yeah, represent teeeeam RWBYZ!"

"Ruby! He's trying to focus!" Weiss was feeling _particularly_ grumpy about not being able to prove herself to the professor.

"Oh, um... Sorry..."

"Allllright!" Professor Port took his place beside the cage and hefted a large axe. "Let the match... begin!"

The cage door fell down as Port chopped the lock with his axe, with Zuko dropping into a fire bending stance without hesitation. It looked like a Grimm version of a Rhino-Bull, only hideously mutated with the Grimm's trademark spikes and red eyes. It took one look at him and charged.

Zuko punched forwards to fireblast it, when only a whisp of smoke leapt from his fist. His eyes went wide, and punched again even harder with his other hand. The second time he managed a spark, but it was too little, and Zuko was too late to dodge out the way as it charged right into him.

There was a cry from the crowd as Zuko was flung backwards onto his back. The Grimm didn't wait for him to stand up before charging towards him again. Zuko managed to rise to a crouch before it caught him, allowing him to dive out the way just in the nick of time.

"Oh ho ho! Well recovered, Mr Lee. Might I suggest your swords this time?"

Zuko tuned out the professor's suggestion even as he pulled out his blades. When the beast next charged him, he was clear of it with ease, slashing at its side as it passed him. One of the swings bounced off a spike, but the other managed to hit its flesh. When Zuko saw it turn to face him for another charge however, he saw that the cut was barely more than a scratch.

 _'_ _Damn it. Tough hide like a Rhino-Bull too._ _'_

"It'll take more than that, young man."

It charged towards him yet again, and Zuko charged back at it. He dove through the air just as it was almost upon him, hitting the ground and rolling directly underneath. Blood dripped from his blades, a mark of the slash he'd just made.

As it passed him, it faltered in its steps, dropping to the floor after only a few more metres.

 _'_ _Same weak belly as one too_ _…'_

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntsman-in-training!" The professor smacked Zuko playfully in the chest, bringing a very real wince to his face. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Zuko walked back up the steps towards the classroom exit, _most_ of his team cheering for him as he approached them. Ruby held up her hand as he grew closer.

"Yay! High-five?"

He passed her without comment, his team members watching him in confusion.

 _'_ _What in Agni_ _'_ _s name just_ happened _!?_ _'_

He stomped out of the classroom and stopped. Ruby and the others awkwardly following him.

"Uh…Zuko…?"

 _'_ _First I lose everything I_ _'_ _ve ever worked for, now this place takes my fire_ too _!?_ _'_

"Are you okay?"

Ruby cautiously reached her hand out to touch his shoulder. Just before she reached him, he suddenly snarled and punched a hole in the locker opposite him.

 _'_ _No! This must be something else_ _…'_

He stomped off down the hallway, his mind racing away.

 _'_ _Find uncle. He_ _'_ _ll know._ _'_

Ruby looked from Zuko, to the dented locker, then to her team.

"What was…?"

"I don't know. Is he…embarrassed?" Yang asked openly, remembering the painful looking hit he'd taken.

"So, uh…what should we do?"

Weiss suddenly groaned and turned back to the classroom. Storming off to see the professor and complain about the mistake that was Ruby being leader. The red-haired girl in question hung her head sadly. It hadn't even been a day, and already felt like she was doing a terrible job as a leader. Slowly, she wandered away to try and find Ozpin…maybe she could swap with someone…

* * *

 **AN:** Seems life isn't done beating Zuko down _just_ yet. Sorry bud. Good guess by RedHerring1412 by the way, and just before the chapter went up too. I've actually been very impressed by a lot of the reviews so far, whether it's people showing a clear understanding of Zuko's character, knowing the Avatar lore, or just recognising the cost of being...well kidnapped in these types of crossovers. I have a really good audience. So congrats to you guys/girls for being awesome, and I'll take a small congrats to myself as well I guess for writing well, 'cause that makes me feel good.

But just a small, _humble_ bit of congrats.


	7. Lost Spark

**Chapter 7 – Lost Spark**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

"And here's the store room." Iroh listened intently as the head chef guided him around the kitchen. The man had already been giving him a tour for half an hour, but the sheer number of strange inventions had meant Iroh had needed _many_ explanations. The coolers that were used to imprison fire benders in the Boiling Rock prison were apparently common place for keeping food fresh, so much so that when Iroh looked impressed at seeing one, the chef had been practically gawking at Iroh's reaction.

The chef reached inside the store room and retrieved a clear bag of potatoes. 'Plastic' if Iroh had heard correctly. Clear bags, what wonders would this world hold next…?

"Now since you're still injured, I'll just put you on light duty. Peel and chop those potatoes for the students' lunch and then…uh, just come see me I guess. I'll find something for you."

"Will do!" The man walked off as Iroh set to work. It took him a little while, but he remembered where the pots and knives were after a while. He washed the potatoes first using the 'tap'. Amazing, only the fire nation had been able to build practical indoor plumbing, and even that hadn't measured up to what he had before him. Twist a handle one way, cold water, twist it another, instantly hot. It was enough to make him feel like a child again. All things considered, there were most certainly worse places that he could have ended up…

"Uncle!"

As his nephew barged into the kitchen, Iroh sighed to himself. Well, at least _one_ of them could adjust to their new home…

"Hello, Zuko, how are you?"

"Uncle, we have a problem!"

"Oh? What might that be?"

"This world, it's stolen from me again! I don't-…Will you stop chopping potatoes! I can't fire bend!"

Iroh paused, taking a moment to collect his thoughts before he dropped another potato into the pot. He held an open hand and formed a small flame in his palm.

"Mine seems to be working."

"Grrr, well mine _isn't_! Every time I try to make a flame, all I get is smoke!"

"Hmmm…I was worried this would happen."

"What? What would happen?"

"You have lost your drive, Zuko." He put the knife down and turned to face him. "For years, you have been determined to capture the avatar. It kept you motivated, but now that you can't do that…"

"But that's why I'm here isn't it? To become a Hunter- or whatever it was called. I'm _doing_ something until we can get back."

"But you do not truly believe in it. You do not believe that it is your purpose, and so it does not _drive_ you. You are torn between this world and our own, and you must choose a side."

Zuko opened his mouth to argue, before his shoulders slumped and he gave up. Iroh laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder, bringing a smile to his own face even if Zuko wouldn't look at him.

"I know it is hard, Prince Zuko, but with time…you will adjust, and you will find your purpose again."

Zuko was silent for several moments, but Iroh never took his hand away. Finally, Zuko turned and began to leave, his head not _quite_ as low as it had been.

"I've done my time, uncle. I had three years of it…"

* * *

Ruby was sat sulking in her next class, thinking over what Ozpin had said to her. He was right, it _had_ only been one day. But it didn't make her feel any better about what had happened with Weiss and Zuko. Both of them had just stormed off without speaking to her! And she didn't know why…

"Welcome Mr Lee, you're late." Zuko said nothing as he walked into the room, Glynda Goodwitch looking him over. "Do _try_ to be on time in future."

He took a seat next to Ruby in silence, not even bothering to apologise to her. Glynda took the not-so-subtle hint that he gave her, and moved back to her lesson. Ruby's eyes flickered back and forth between the teacher and Zuko. Maybe this could be her time to fix things! Only…

' _Oh…I wish Yang was here. Or even Blake…'_

Sadly, not every class she had was with her team. Still, if she was going to be a leader, she had to learn to do things herself.

"Hey Zuko."

He jumped slightly, turning around to see her fully. "Oh, Ruby. I didn't see you…"

"How did you…" She stopped herself. She was sat right next to him, but it was on his left side. His _burned_ side. She obviously hadn't missed it, it was impossible to miss. But she just hadn't thought… He wasn't blind, but obviously he couldn't see too well out of it. That was sad.

"How are you?"

"…fine."

"Really? You seemed kinda…"

"Kind of _what_?"

"…moody. I mean, you just left without saying anything. Was it because of the fight? No one thought less of you 'cause you got hit, I mean, everyone does."

Zuko groaned. He hadn't even _thought_ of that. Great, he'd just embarrassed himself in front of a classroom of people.

"Sooo… what happened?"

He was about to tell her to drop it and leave her alone, but just as he opened his mouth, he felt the anger leave his body. After losing so much, and seeing so many weird and alien things in just a few days…he was just tired. He supposed it didn't even matter really if she knew he was a fire bender. He'd been going to when that Grimm attacked him…and none of these people even _knew_ what the Fire Nation was.

"My fire didn't work."

"Your…fire?" She had prepared herself to be told to go away, just like Weiss would have… _had_ told her to before. But instead, she found herself very interested in learning more about the scarred man next to her.

"I'm a fire bender, that's why I didn't pull my swords out."

"Wow...so, does that mean you can bend fire?"

"Kind of. I can control it."

"But there wasn't even any there."

"I can make my own…or at least, I could." He looked depressingly at his hands, fingertips twitching as they tried to conjure up even a spark. "Fire bending requires drive, passion. I've…lost mine."

Ruby said nothing for a while, not exactly sure what she _could_ say. When she finally spoke, she still wasn't sure if it would help him. "Well…why did you become a Huntsman?"

He gave her a frank look and decided that he may as well be honest about it. "It was either come to Beacon, or live on the streets. My uncle's still hurt, I couldn't do that to him."

"So…you did it to help him?"

"I guess."

"Well…maybe you should focus on that?" He looked at her like he was considering what she had said, so she decided to press on. "Well, when I was a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right and protected people who couldn't protect themselves. Maybe, yours is like that too?"

"…it was once..."

"Well, why not now?"

"Because I lost everything I'd ever worked for."

"Oh…" Ruby took the hint that he didn't want to talk about it and let it drop, focusing instead on the lesson.

* * *

When lunchtime rolled around, Zuko found himself sat with only _most_ of his team. For whatever reason there was no sign of Weiss at their table. Still, between Yang, Ruby, and Blake, even if she was mostly reading a book, sat around him, there was no shortage of people trying to force him into conversation.

"Soooo, Zuko. We still don't know much about you, you kinda just went straight to bed last night, where are you from?

' _The Fire Nation.'_ "Far away."

"Oh…um, any family?"

" _A father and a sister.'_ "Just my uncle."

"Uh...so...do you have any hobbies?"

Zuko was quiet as he thought about it. The easiest answer, and the one he had been about to give, was no. _But_ , he clearly wasn't going to be left alone any time soon, so he may as well give them something.

"I meditate."

"Really? That sounds boring. I mean- uh, that's…cool I guess, how come?"

"As a fire bender, you need to be in control of yourselves at all times, otherwise you start burning things down."

"Wait, fire bender?" Yang cut her sister off and leaned over to Zuko in interest. "What's that?"

"Oh! He says he can make fire!"

"Really? Cool! Can you do it right now?"

"I can't. I've...lost it. For now."

"Oh… Hey Ruby, didn't you see someone who could do that before?"

Zuko looked up from his meal in interest. Another fire bender? Maybe…were there others like him? Had some of his people been taken away and dumped here with him?

"Oh yeah!"

"Who was he?"

"She, and I don't know. She was working with this Roman guy to rob this Dust shop, and Miss Goodwitch and I were all like hwaaa! Whoa, bang bang bang!" She began making fighting motions as she eagerly recounted her fight alongside the Huntress.

' _Female fire bender? Robbing someone? Please don't be…'_ "This woman, did she…did she have blue fire?"

Ruby froze mid-pose in confusion. "Huh? No, hers was red. Why?"

'Oh thank Agni.' "No reason."

Zuko went silent again as he returned to his meal. Ruby sent a pleading look over to her teammates as he shut down again. Fearless as she was, Yang decided to give it a shot.

"So where'd you get that scar?"

The table went deadly quiet. Ruby stared daggers at her sister, who shrugged apologetically, it hadn't sounded so bad in her head…

"I made a mistake."

With that, Zuko considered his meal finished and left.

"Yang!"

"Sorry! It didn't sound so bad in my head."

"How could that _not_ sound bad?"

"At least I was trying to help Blake, I didn't see you doing anything."

"He clearly likes his quiet. Something I can relate to…" The girl in black returned to her book. Ruby groaned and slumped in her seat.

"Oh…and he was just starting to open up too…" Maybe she could still make things up to Weiss at least.

* * *

Later that night, Zuko lay silently on his bed while the rest of his team slept. Blake was under her covers, Ruby was in her tent, and Yang was snoring away on hers. He'd been studying for hours, desperately trying to learn more of the world so that he could at least _understand_ what his teachers were talking about. He'd stopped fairly recently, however he stayed awake thinking to himself.

He raised his hand to his face and stared intently at it.

' _I want to protect people.'_ He willed the fire inside of him to come to his fingertips, but nothing happened. Not even a wisp of smoke. He balled his hand into a fist, feeling a rush of anger flow through him. It wouldn't help him however, as it was instantly followed by a wave of sadness…

He was about to go to sleep when the door creaked open, and he could just make out a form sneaking over to Ruby's tent.

"Weiss! I-I was studying, and then I fell asleep! I'm sorry..."

Weiss put her hand over Ruby's mouth, silencing her. She spoke quietly as she pulled her hand away, raising an empty 'Beacon Academy' mug in her other.

"How do you take your coffee?"

"I... I don't..."

"Answer the question!"

"Uhh, cream and five sugars!"

"Don't move." She left the tent for a moment before returning with a full mug. "Here."

"Um... Thanks, Weiss."

"Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader. Just know that I am going to be the best teammate you'll _ever_ have! Good luck studying!" She left the tent as Ruby smiled widely, before poking her head back inside and pointing at one of the papers. "That's wrong, by the way. Hey, Ruby?"

"Uh-huh?"

"…I always wanted bunk beds as a kid." She left again, climbing inside her own bed to try and sleep.

Zuko watched them curiously. He hadn't had much faith in Ruby, not because she was young, he'd been younger than her, but because she was inexperienced. Yet, to his surprise, she had already managed to fix the relationship between herself and Weiss. Barely started her training to become a Huntress, and she was already helping people.

He'd wanted to be like that when he was a child. When he was young and naïve. Not everyone _could_ be helped, or _should_ be. You couldn't save a fish from being eaten by a bird, the bird had to eat. He couldn't help the air nomads, they were all dead. But maybe…maybe he could still help someone… He raised up his hand again.

' _I want to-… I am Zuko, and I_ will _protect those who cannot protect themselves.'_

A spark flew from his fingertips, and Zuko smiled. His bending wasn't back…but it would be, he just needed to work on it.

* * *

 **AN:** Alright, seven chapters down, how are you all liking it so far? So yeah, Zuko ain't down for the count just yet, even if he is constantly getting kicked when he's down. Not much to really say in regards to this chapter I suppose, there weren't even that many changes made to it in planning. Well, only marginal ones...

Oh yeah, Team RWBYZ is now (at time of writing) the most popular RWBY x Avatar fic, which is super awesome. Guess that means I won't be getting to many more follows and favourites, which is fine, I'm far more interested in all your interesting reviews anyway. But hey, made it to the top!


	8. Purpose

**Chapter 8 – Purpose**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

Zuko stared at the textbook in front of him in hatred.

' _Okay, so the Faunus are the weird…animal…human…things, and they have extra body parts that do stuff. Or was it instead of normal parts…do they still use their normal ears if they have animal ones? And what kind of animal is a puma? It sounds fake… They also have night vision…what the heck is that? Vision at night? How does that even work? That's a…oh right, animal thing…'_

"This is the part where you lose."

Zuko glanced up from his book to momentarily watch the fight at the front of the classroom. If you could call it that. It was about as one-sided as when that Water Tribe boy had charged him at the South Pole. He felt a small smug satisfaction at the memory of knocking the kid away. It'd been brave of the boy to try and stop him. Water Tribe barbarian or not, he certainly didn't lack guts, only brains.

Zuko watched with disinterest as the blonde boy on stage went down. He wasn't exactly surprised, he'd been losing from the start, and the kid had barely been _standing_ after a few hits, let alone been able to make a comeback. Zuko watched in anger as the blonde's opponent raised his mace, ready to finish him off. He was about to stand up and step in when the teacher stopped him.

"Cardin, that's enough!" The boy relented and walked away, resting his mace on his shoulder. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match."

Zuko glanced to his aura notes again.

' _Is that the one that gives them magical powers? No…that's…semblance right? Aura was that soul thing…which might as well be magic.'_ Zuko grit his teeth just like he had when he'd first learnt about it. A world with no benders should have meant he didn't have to worry about threats. Instead, he'd apparently found himself surrounded by a whole _world_ of people who outclassed him in multiple ways. Each person's aura meant they could take more punishment, punch harder, they could outclass Zuko in any fight if he let them. He certainly wasn't weak, even in this new world there weren't many people who could shatter steel chains in a single kick.

But that was the problem, Zuko could only do that because of his fire bending training, which was effectively a semblance power. He could use his bending to even the field with any one of his team in a fight, but if Ruby used her super speed, Blake her illusion things, or Weiss and her magical floating symbols…then he would be toast. Heck, he hadn't even seen what Yang could do, but he just _knew_ it would be something bad.

But even with all that said, even if he _had_ his bending back, which he didn't, a single 'dust bullet' would kill him. Catch an arrow as it came towards him? Easy. He'd done that a hundred times before. He'd done it recently with that Rough rhino archer just before he and his uncle had been kidnapped. Catch a bullet travelling so fast he could barely _see_ it? No…

"Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?"

"Speak for yourself..." Cardin lazily stepped off the stage, the arrogant smirk feeling right at home on his face.

"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"

The bell rang and the students stood up to leave. Zuko didn't move however, still thinking through his options.

' _Maybe I could make a fire shield? I lived through my ship blowing up because of it. No…I'd still been in a mess afterwards, I can't afford to take the chance that it won't block_ everything _.'_

"Ahem."

Zuko blinked and looked up at the teacher stood over him.

"Yes, Miss Goodwitch?"

"Class has finished, Mr Lee, you can leave now." She looked over towards his open textbook. "Unless you'd rather stay and read up on _elementary_ schoolwork."

Zuko scowled. "My education missed some things."

"So I've been told." She matched his glare with one of her own. "Mr Lee, I've been excluding you from combat practice because you have failed to demonstrate _any_ aura control. If you cannot participate in the classes which your scholarship _requires_ you to complete, then may I suggest that you rethink your attendance at this school."

Zuko growled and slammed the textbook shut. "I'll catch up." He stood up from his seat and stomped out the classroom, seething with embarrassment and rage.

* * *

' _Stupid teacher. Who does she think she's_ talking _to? I'm royalty, the son of the fire lord, the most powerful person on the planet, and she thinks she can treat me like some-..some…_ child _!?'_

Zuko cursed her name all the way to the cafeteria.

' _Arrogant cow, what kind of teacher mocks someone just because they don't have an aura, or because they're struggling over work that didn't even_ exist _a few weeks ago. I'd like to see her insult me once I get my bending back. I'll burn that stupid cape of hers and-'_

"Hello Zuko."

Zuko snapped out of his inner ramblings and looked up at the person serving him food.

"Hello uncle."

"We're having fish, vegetables, and potatoes today. Though I did manage to convince the chef to let me make them myself, so they're much closer to the fire flakes from home that you like so much."

Zuko grunted as his uncle laid the food onto his tray. He still didn't like that his uncle had been reduced to some chef's servant, but at least he seemed somewhat happy doing it, especially when he spoke again.

"I even managed to order a few extra ingredients, soon I'll be able to make Jasmine tea again! I couldn't find any Ginseng unfortunately, but it's something. A man can only go so long without his tea after all."

"Zuko! Over here!"

He looked back to see Ruby waving at him from the far end of the hall, the rest of his team and team JNPR all sat with them.

"Thanks for the food, uncle."

"Enjoy, Zuko. Say hi to your team for me!"

He left and began making his way towards his team. He was still angry, but at least seeing his uncle helped calm him down somewhat.

"Hey, we saved you a seat."

Ruby moved over slightly from the two seats she had been occupying. Zuko muttered a small thanks and sat down. The rest of his team said nothing as they were all listening to the orange-haired girl from JNPR telling a story.

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..."

"It was day." Her male companion corrected her, even as she continued as if she'd never heard him speak.

"We were _surrounded_ by Ursai..."

"They were Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!"

"Two of 'em."

"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now."

Zuko had barely listened to them. 'Ren' may not have been so bad, but the pink one was so peppy and happy that he could barely stand to hear her. She reminded him _far_ too much of a particular air bender.

As they turned their attention to the blonde boy who'd just been beaten in the class before, Zuko's eyes caught something. The one who'd been his opponent and three others who were most likely his teammates had begun to block the path of some Faunus girl.

The boys surrounded her and began to mock and prod her. He'd seen it a thousand times before, and he didn't need a book to tell him discrimination when he saw it. Both before and after his banishment, Zuko had been appalled by the wanton segregation of benders and non-benders in the military, with only fire-benders receiving the proper armour and equipment they deserved. The rest? Treated like fodder. Like they were _lesser_ people, no matter that they still fought and bled for their nation with as much honour as anyone else.

Zuko turned to look at Ruby, and clenched his fists when she saw it, and looked away. His team saw the boys too, as did the other team who were sitting with them. Just like Ruby, they looked away in disgust. The red-haired girl turned her attention back to the blonde.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!"

"Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"

"He's a _bully_." It was Ruby that time, casting an annoyed glance over to the boy in question.

"Oh, please! Name _one_ time he's 'bullied' me."

Zuko ignored them as they recounted all the times Jaune had been bullied.

' _So what? That's it? They're just gonna sit there!? So much for wanting to help people, Ruby, I'd have thought_ you _of all people wouldn't just sit back and let it happen.'_

Cardin began to tug on the Faunus's bunny ears as he and his team laughed.

"Atrocious. I can't _stand_ people like- Zuko?"

Pyrrha watched in surprise as the scarred teenager abruptly stood up from his seat and began marching over towards Cardin. Yang took notice quickly, cocking an eyebrow in confusion.

"Uh, what's he doing?"

"Getting himself into trouble! _What_ does he think he's _doing_!?" Weiss began to desperately look around for a teacher they could tell, maybe if she found one quick enough then she could stop Mr Moody from getting himself punished. The others at the table began to call for him.

"Zuko!"

"Come back!"

"What are you doing!?"

Zuko didn't hear them, his anger blocking out all save for the four men before him.

"Hey!"

Cardin stopped in surprise, his hand still gripped tightly on the girl's ears.

"Let the girl go."

Cardin laughed, even as he let go of her ears. His teammates stepped up behind him, trying their best to look intimidating.

"And just who are you, trying to tell us what to do?"

"It doesn't matter who I am. But I know who you are. You're not Huntsmen, you're bullies. Cowards, abusing anyone who won't stand up to you, and messing with a girl whose life is hard enough as it is."

Cardin growled and stepped forward until he was right in front of him. He may have been taller than Zuko, but he wasn't intimidated in the slightest.

"So what, you and your team want to take _us_ on?"

"You're darn right we will!" Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss all formed up behind him confidently.

"No."

"Huh?"

"They didn't want to step in before, they won't now. I'll take you all on."

Cardin smirked viciously while his own team looked stunned.

"Uh, Zuko-"

"Shut up, Ruby!"

"Hey!" Ruby looked flinched, while Yang smacked her fists together in anger.

Cardin brought their attention back to him as he laughed. "You heard him, ladies, nobody interfere."

He and Zuko continued to stare down at one another, tension filling the room. Cardin cracked his knuckles and puffed up his chest, while the firebender merely waited for him to make his move. The other students in the room began to crowd around and chant, eager to see a fight outside of the classroom. Cardin wheeled back to punch, but found himself flung backwards into the arms of his teammates.

Zuko had barely moved to shove him, and returned quickly to his original standing position. Cardin growled and charged at him again, his fist already raised to strike. With just the slightest of steps, Zuko dodged the blow and grabbed Cardin by the head, flinging him around before throwing him face first into one of the benches.

"Argh!" It would have knocked out a normal person, but thanks to his aura, Cardin was still conscious. If, very pissed off. He turned to his team in anger. "The heck are you idiots doing just standing there!? You're in this fight too, remember!" They hesitated for a moment, before they and Cardin all charged in towards him.

Zuko ducked and sidestepped as punches began to rain towards him. More people didn't exactly change the balance much when they were all restricted by the benches around them. When one of them stepped too far forwards, or overextended themselves in an attack, Zuko would step around them and send them crashing back down to the floor.

His attackers however, just wouldn't stay down. As their auras allowed them to simply take the beatings Zuko was giving them, it was only a matter of time before one of them got lucky. Cardin was the first, landing a painful punch across Zuko's chin, staggering him backwards. He recovered, and made Cardin pay for it with a flurry of painful blows, but he'd made an opening regardless, and soon more and more hits were landing on him.

Zuko blocked blow after blow, dodging and weaving between his opponents until Cardin caught him staggered, and kicked him full-force in the chest. Zuko went down, and hit the floor, _hard_. When Zuko didn't move, Cardin laughed, raising his fists in victory.

"Zuko!" Despite whatever he may have said, Ruby was still worried when she saw her teammate fall.

It was an all too familiar feeling for Zuko, being beaten by so many who were better than him. Azula. The Avatar. Against those he needed to fight, he was always so _weak_.

His hands twitched as a smug Cardin began to tower over him.

' _Remember this, Zuko, no matter how things seem to change, never forget who you are.'_

Who was he? A banished prince? A failure in not only one world but two? No…

' _I am Zuko. And I am_ done _being weak!'_

Zuko's legs whirled through the air, unleashing an inferno of flames that smashed into the bullies around him. One by one they smashed into the benches, all save for Cardin being knocked out. Cardin watched in fear as Zuko rose to his feet, fire billowing around him as he seethed with rage.

Without hesitation, Zuko ran towards him sending blast after blast into him. There was just the slightest pause in his barrage as he charged up his attack, unleashing a wave of fire that blasted Cardin off his feet and into the wall at the far end of the cafeteria. His fight won, Zuko took a deep breath, and extinguished the flames around him.

' _This time will be different. I won't fight for myself, but I will use this strength to help others.'_

"Just _what_ do you think you are _doing,_ young man!?"

* * *

 **AN:** So, chapter 8 is done, what are your thoughts everyone? I'll go ahead and post some behind the scenes stuff for this chapter because this chapter was _hard_. The main choice about why I added Zuko gaining his bending back now instead of later was actually rather easy. Keeping the pacing up and making sure the flow was consistent was very important, and dragging it out for a few more chapters wouldn't really add any more to the story in terms of what I'd really be able to do with it. So overall, this way was for the best, particularly since it gave the perfect timing for a little bully beatdown at the same time. No, the difficult part really was the actual wording of Zuko's motivation. That went through a lot of rewrites in order to get across the message, without obstructing the chapter too much, so that was being worked on and refined _literally_ up to the point where the chapter went up. Rest assured, I'm happy with what I ended up with, it wasn't rushed out for schedules sake. If you don't like it...well firstly, I do still have a _ton_ more cool stuff to come, so please stick around for that, and secondly, why not let me know why? I'm always very interested in what my readers have to say, even if I don't respond to each of them individually. Legitimate critisms are just as welcome as praise or ideas, so go write ahead.

Sorry...I couldn't resist the pun.


	9. Punishment

**Chapter 9 – Punishment**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

"Of all the students I've seen over the years you have been by _far_ the most difficult." Zuko listened disinterestedly as Glynda paced around the room. Ozpin was sat opposite him, studying the boy silently. "You've failed nearly _all_ of your homework assignments, you speak back to everyone, and now you're fighting with other students in the lunch room."

Zuko said nothing, knowing that saying anything would merely anger her even more. Having usually _been_ the one who was as mad at her, he knew that sometimes it was just better to let them vent.

"You don't cooperate with your team, you're barely even _speaking_ to them, and to top it all off you insulted your team leader just an hour ago!"

She stopped, took a deep breath, and calmed herself. She stood by Ozpin's side as she waited for the young man to speak. He kept his silence, biting back the numerous snarky responses that he wanted to yell at her. Clearly, Glynda wasn't pleased as she opened her mouth to speak again, before being interrupted by Ozpin.

"I think it would be best if I spoke to Zuko in private, Glynda. Thank you for bringing him to me, please double check the fires are all out in the cafeteria, the last thing we need is the academy burning down."

She looked like she wanted to protest, but thought better of it. Giving a nod of understanding, she left his office, and soon the bender and the professor were left in silence, save for the ever present sound of clock tower gears moving around them.

"Royalty not used to being talked down to?"

Zuko growled. "I stand by what I did!"

"And do you really understand what you've just done? Had those boys not activated their auras in time then you would have severely injured them. As it stands, Mr Winchester is still down in the medical bay after you blew him into a wall."

"Well what was I supposed to do? Just let someone be turned into a punching bag?"

"Mr Winchester's activities were most certainly _not_ violent."

"But they would have been! Sooner or later, he would have gone further, because nobody was doing anything to stop him."

"And you believe the person to stop him was you?"

"It _should_ have been her team! But they weren't around, so somebody had to do something."

"Like set the cafeteria on fire? Or perhaps you think you should have gotten a teacher instead?"

"You're training us to fight monsters and stop bad guys."

" _Training_! But you are not yet _trained_. The damage that you did to those boys is _precisely_ why you notify a teacher of the situation and let _them_ handle it."

"I'm not stupid, I know how dangerous fire bending is!"

Ozpin glanced to the boys burned left eye. "Clearly."

Zuko's eyes shot open in anger and he stood up from his seat. He turned and began to storm towards the elevator.

"I didn't say you could leave Zuko, we are by no means finished."

He stopped and whirled on the headmaster, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Why should I stay and listen to you!?"

"Because if you don't then you and your uncle may found yourselves out on the street!"

Zuko went silent. His lips curled into a snarl but he said nothing, forcing himself to calm down before he set fire to the room. After a short moment, he walked back to his seat and sat down.

Ozpin himself took a brief moment to calm down. It wasn't often he found himself angry at a student, but Zuko was very…agitating.

"I pulled a lot of favours and broke a great many more rules to let you come here Zuko. However, if you think that I will allow you to do whatever you feel like because of that then you are sorely mistaken."

Zuko's head sank as he continued to sit in silence.

"I've allowed you leniency because of your situation, but that-"

"Why? You don't believe a single word about my past."

"No, I don't. But I believe that _you_ do."

"Then why bother? I'm clearly not worth the trouble."

"Because I stand by what I told you on the day you arrived. You have potential, Zuko. Not just for strength, but to become a better person as well. You are arrogant, rash, and short-tempered, but you are also good. You stepped in to help Miss Scarlatina because you saw a person in trouble. Not a chance for a fight, and not a Faunus who needed to be saved. I've seen you in your classes too. Combat classes you ignore unless it's something vital, and instead you focus on your academics. As much of a friend of mine as he is, you are also one of the few students to fully listen to Professor Port's classes…when relevant at least."

Zuko almost smirked.

"The point is, you are not a bad man Zuko, simply misguided. Tell me, what's really the issue?"

"…I hate this place."

"Beacon?"

"No, not the school. This…everything!"

Ozpin watched curiously as he stood up from his seat and began to pace around the room.

"Everything I see is different. It's all so _new_. You know it took me half an hour to get out of a closet the other day because I couldn't figure out how to use the _door_!? I didn't even have a time dial and the sun to tell me that, I just saw it on a clock! There's all this new technology that stops me every time I'm trying to do something. It may make your life easier but mine's become hell!

"The animals are different! There's two species of people! And every night I can see the body of the moon spirit strewn across the sky! There's no great spirit I can pray to for guidance, no goal that I'm supposed to be working towards, every day I just wake up and do what I can to try and make sense of the world.

"Oh, and the _combat_ part of my scholarship? I don't know what glowing recommendation this 'Qrow' guy gave you, but I've never felt so vulnerable in my life. I could let loose a Komodo-Rhino on any one of these kids and if they were _really_ unlucky, they might get a bruise. Each and every one of them has some kind of weapon that would kill me in one hit unless I took them out first. I don't have any 'aura' to protect me from a bullet like they do."

"Funny, you don't look like a Grimm."

Zuko looked at him confused.

"Didn't reach that part in your studies yet? Every being that has a soul, has an aura. The only creatures that don't are the Grimm. I'd hardly call you soulless."

"Hmph, well I'm not exactly _from_ here am I?"

Ozpin didn't answer, not that he should have. They were trapped at an impasse as far as _that_ small topic was concerned. Zuko sighed and retook his seat.

"So what's going to happen to me? Are you going to kick me out?"

"That would be rather wasteful. Kids will be kids, and this is hardly the first time that a student has made a mistake. Regardless, you will be punished suitably. Given that it was team CRDL, and they will be unable to focus on their studies until they are healed, it seems only fair that you help them with their studies. Any and all homework assignments they receive this week will be completed by you, starting with those given today."

"What!? You know how bad I've been struggling, how could I possibly do that?"

"You are a very determined young man Zuko, I'm sure you will find a way. They will be dropped off at your dorm today. Until then, I suggest you take that time to apologise to your team. Like them or not, they will be with you for years to come. It is your best interests to make as many friends as you can."

Zuko looked away in shame. He hadn't really meant what he'd said to Ruby, it was just…

"That will be all Zuko, you may leave." Zuko stood and headed towards the elevator. "And please send your uncle in after you, he's waiting on the floor below." Zuko froze, then continued, a feeling of shame creeping up inside of him.

* * *

The four ladies of team RWBYZ sat in silence in their dorm. After Glynda had come in and taken Zuko off to see Ozpin, they hadn't really known what to do. So they'd said their goodbyes to team JNPR and headed off to their dorm to study. Except…they hadn't really. They'd gotten their books out, their notes, made themselves comfortable on their beds and…

"So what's going to happen to him?" Ruby was the first to speak up, even if she kept her head low in shyness.

"I don't know Ruby. Don't exactly care much." Yang was still angry over Zuko's outburst to her sister.

"But, I mean…was he right?"

"Right about what?"

"…that we weren't doing anything?"

"Oh please, Zuko didn't know _what_ he was doing." Weiss couldn't hold her tongue any longer. "If he had any sense then he would have gone to get a teacher. If we 'did something' like he'd wanted us to do then we'd all be in just as much trouble as him."

"And what would a teacher do?" Blake looked up from her book as she spoke. She still sounded disinterested, regardless of what she had asked.

"They would have stopped him and punished him appropriately, what kind of question is that?"

"Would they?"

"Of course they would! Why wouldn't they?"

"She _was_ a Faunus, and this _is_ a combat school."

"So what? We're still students, the teachers would know better than any of us what should be done. And besides, Faunus discrimination isn't _that_ bad."

Blake narrowed her eyes but held her tongue begrudgingly, the last thing they needed was an argument, no matter how much a certain spoiled heiress needed a lesson in reality. Yang was the next one to speak up again, casting a glance over to the Faunus-in-hiding.

"It doesn't matter why he did it, it's _how_. He set fire to the cafeteria!"

"He said he was a fire bender."

"He also said he'd lost it Ruby. I guess he lied…"

The girls were silent again, each one deep in thought before they were interrupted as the door opened. Zuko took a few steps inside before he froze under their gazes at him. Some angry, some disappointed, others confused.

"Uh…hi."

"What do _you_ want? Come to burn down our room too?"

Zuko visibly flinched at Weiss's accusation, but he didn't look angry. Just, ashamed.

"Yeah…sorry about that. I just…I've, been having a tough time since I came to Beacon and I kind of just…"

His apology was terrible, and none of his team looked ready to accept it.

"It's just…I had a pretty rough childhood, and just before I came to Beacon I…lost everything I had. I didn't really know who I was, or what I was doing anymore and I've been struggling ever since. I know that, it doesn't excuse what I did but… I wasn't thinking. About the consequences, or about what I said."

He looked over to Ruby, who was looking back at him in a way he couldn't quite figure out. "I didn't mean what I said, if it hurt you. And, I shouldn't have handled it how I did. It only made things worse, I…I should have just gotten a teacher."

"Right you are Mr Lee."

Zuko turned around to see Glynda stood in the doorway with a massive pile of papers in one hand. "Here's team CRDL's work. Make sure you hand in all their assignments on time and with passing grades."

She dumped the stack of work in his hands. "Yes Miss Goodwitch."

"And make sure you don't neglect your own work either. You can't afford to fail any more of your assignments."

"Yes…"

Glynda left after that, leaving Zuko to sigh in resignation and collect his books and pens. He left and headed off to the library without another word, knowing that if he didn't get started soon, then there was no _way_ he could finish it all on time.

The room was silent for a while, before Yang spoke up.

"Well. That happened."

"Who'd have thought _Zuko_ would ever apologise?"

"Easy Weiss, it's not like we really know him. Or…know _anything_ about him really."

"That's the point. In the weeks that we've been a team he's hardly ever spoken to _any_ of us."

Ruby cut in nervously. "Well I mean, that's not entirely true." Ruby awkwardly tapped her fingers together as the team turned to face her in surprise. "Well we've uh, kinda been getting along in some of our other classes when it's just us. I mean, he doesn't talk much but, he's…nicer, y'know?"

"Really?" Yang cupped her chin in thought. "Well that's…pretty good I guess."

"What? I thought you were angry at him for being mean to your sister?"

"I was. _But_ , he's said sorry, and he admitted he made a mistake. Besides, you've said worse before."

"I have not!"

"You kinda have." Ruby awkwardly interjected.

"What!? Well I-…whatever."

" _And_ he apologised for not thinking, so I don't know what you're still moody about." Blake didn't exactly _look_ like she was smirking, but Weiss could practically hear it in her voice.

"I-…ugh, oh fine. He's forgiven. Now what do we do?"

There was a knock at the door, and Ruby opened it to reveal Iroh stood awkwardly outside.

"Oh, uh, hello. I was looking for my nephew. Is he…?"

"He left to do some homework."

"Ah, I'd better leave him to that then. Thank you!"

He turned to leave but Ruby grabbed him by the shoulder. "Uh Mr Lee? Before he left, Zuko was saying sorry for starting the fight." Iroh's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Well I was wondering, what's Zuko's…um…"

"Problem?" Iroh smiled mischievously, remembering the phrase he'd heard so many other students using. "I love my nephew very much, but I'm very aware of his attitude. He...has had a very difficult childhood, and it has forced him to become not as…kind as he once was."

"Yeah, he mentioned something like that…what does that really mean though?"

Iroh watched as the four girls all looked towards him with interest. He sighed, having hoped he'd never have to tell the story again.

"It's probably best that Zuko tells you himself when he's ready. But, you should know that because he has had to become so, thick-skinned, he has had to reject any sign of friendship he is offered. However, my nephew is not one to apologise lightly, and if he has, then I believe that extending an arm of friendship to him now may be your best chance."

The girls all looked towards each other, silently asking their question as Iroh took his leave. The elderly fire bender had been feeling very down indeed after his talk with Ozpin, but he hoped that just maybe, there could be something good gained from everything that had happened.

* * *

' _Okay, so the Faunus War hit a turning point during the battle of…something, because the Fanus could see in the night. And then they stormed the castle as a manifestation of the soul and… wait what?'_

Zuko looked over what he had just written, and then slammed his fist on the table in anger. He'd been so tired he'd moved onto an entirely different textbook. He let his head bang on the table in embarrassment. The sun had may have only just gone down but he was already mentally exhausted. It didn't change the fact that he was still monstrously behind on his work load however.

"I'm never going to get this done."

"Not alone you're not."

He sat up straight, ignoring the sheet of paper which had stuck itself to the side of his face. Ruby stepped into view from behind him, grabbing one of the books of the pile by his side. Yang, Weiss, and Blake all followed her lead and grabbed one themselves.

"Since we're your team, it wouldn't be fair to let you do it all on your own."

Zuko was speechless as each one of his teammates opened the book and began to write down answers.

' _Nobody's ever…helped me. Nobody but uncle…'_

"Thank you. All of you."

* * *

 **AN:** Surprise! I changed my name. Don't worry, I'm still the same person, I just didn't like my pen name anymore. I never really liked it anyway, it didn't really feel like a fitting "writing" name. Trusty McGoodGuy has a nice little ring to it in my opinion, especially if you just shortened it to Trusty if you're ever referring to me. Anywho, what did you all think of the latest chapter? I've been working on ironing out any problems that have been picked up on in the reviews, so let me know if that's either worked, or if I still missed things. Constructive critisism is _always_ appreciated.

Though feel free to say I'm amazing too if you like, y'know just, whatever feels natural to say.


	10. Jaunedice

**Chapter 10 – Jaunedice**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

Cardin fumed as he walked down the hallway towards his room. He scratched at the cast on his arm incessantly in frustration. Walking around school wearing the thing was humiliating enough, but did it have to itch so badly?

He clenched his good fist in anger. It was all that stupid Zuko's fault. If he'd minded his own business then he wouldn't be like this! And all because he got that lucky shot too…

' _I swear, the next time I see him, I'll make sure he regrets thinking he can stand up to me.'_

"…to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

' _Huh?'_ Cardin snuck against the wall until he reached the window. Poking his head up, he could just about make out the two figures of Pyrrha and Jaune standing out on the balcony. For whatever reason, Jaune looked very upset.

"You're wrong. I-I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say! Of course you do!"

Jaune whirled on Pyrrha, looking angry and ashamed. "No, I don't! …I wasn't really accepted into Beacon..."

Cardin raised an eyebrow in confusion. Sure, he'd never thought Jaune deserved to come to Beacon, being the little pipsqueak that he was…

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests. I didn't _earn_ my spot at this Academy! I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied!"

A smirk grew on Cardin's face as Jaune continued his confession to Pyrrha.

' _Oh Jauney-boy, we are gonna have some fun together…'_

* * *

"And…done."

The last essay slapped onto the mountain of paperwork with the others. All around the table, team RWBYZ lay back in their seats with relief. Weiss stretched out her body and moaned in satisfaction, her arms and legs letting out small 'pops' as she did so. She reached out and grabbed the cup of coffee she'd made and took a sip, before promptly spitting it out in disgust.

"Yuck, it's freezing cold! How long ago did I make this…?"

She slammed it down on the table in frustration, startling awake Ruby who had just started to drift off to sleep. Weiss raised an eyebrow as Zuko promptly picked up the cup and held it in his hands.

"It's almost sunrise, so…probably a good few hours." Steam began to rise from the mug as he reheated it, then placed it back down in front of her.

"Well that's…convenient. But how do you know what time it is? You don't have a Scroll…"

Despite Beacon having provided Zuko with a great many things to help him study, apparently a 'Scroll' was a luxury, so he'd been forced to wait as his uncle saved up using his measly pay in the kitchen.

"I can feel the sun as it moves."

Ruby looked over at him in interest. "Wow. So you can tell the time just by feeling it?"

"I'm…not that precise. But I can tell when the sun rises. Or, is about to."

Ruby let out a single small 'ha' before she laid her head down on the table to sleep. For the first time in a long time, Zuko smiled. There was just something about seeing the girls so exhausted after helping him that made him feel…happy. No, not just some girls…his _team_. Zuko picked up the stack of papers they'd built and began to leave the library.

"So, you managed to get it all done in time?"

Zuko nodded and accepted the cup of tea his uncle held outstretched for him, shifting the papers onto one hand.

"I had help."

"So I see." The slight smile Iroh had been carrying left his face as he turned serious. "I know that you've been struggling here Prince Zuko. But, I think it's nice that you can make friends here."

Zuko's smile fell. "Not friends' uncle. Teammates. I can't ever be friends with them…"

"Oh? And why's that?"

"I can't be friends with them if they don't know who I am." He glanced back to his team who had started to talk and laugh amongst themselves. "And how can I ever tell them who I am? They'd never believe me."

"Hmmm…sadly, that is quite true. _But_ , I would suggest you try to be friends anyway." Zuko looked at him surprised. "Prince Zuko, we do not know what will happen to us, or what will come in the future. But I know, that when the time comes, you will need some friends of your own."

Zuko looked doubtful, finishing off his tea and handing it back to him.

"Give it time. Give them a chance, and when the time comes, tell them what you can. You never know, they just might believe you. Wouldn't _that_ be worth all the work?"

"Maybe uncle…" Zuko's lips curled slightly, hope rising inside of himself. "Maybe."

Iroh left to work in the kitchen, leaving Zuko all alone when he arrived in Dr Oobleck's classroom.

"Ah, Mr Lee. I've been informed you have some homework to hand in?"

"Here you go."

He dropped the papers onto his desk, the always caffeinated doctor quickly scrutinizing his work.

"Hmmm. You have two different answers for this question."

"Uh, I didn't know which one was right, so I wrote them both."

"And this one's in a different color."

"My pen ran out…?"

"And the handwriting in this essay is different from this one."

"Uh…I'm ambidextrous and switched hands?"

Oobleck scrutinized him, taking a disturbingly long break from speaking or from drinking his coffee. "…Well your weapons of choice are dual swords so I suppose that's possible! Might I suggest next time asking your teammates to help you? They are, in fact, allowed to do so."

Zuko sighed as the doctor sped away.

* * *

Jaune groaned with exhaustion as he stumbled towards his dorm room. Ever since Cardin had found out about his fake transcripts, he'd been doing all manner of errands for him in just those few short days. Most of them didn't even make sense! He'd washed all his clothes, buffed his armour, cleaned his room, but then he'd also been taking notes on Rapier Wasps of all things!

"You know, there's only really two reasons why boys are out this late at night."

Jaune would have squealed if it wouldn't have woken up his teammates. Stepping out of the shadows emerged an old man with a grey beard.

"They're either in trouble, or seeing girls. So tell me, what trouble are you in young man?"

"Hey wait, I know you. You're that guy who works in the kitchen! Zuko's uncle, right?"

"That's right. But, you can just call me Iroh. It would be pretty strange if you called me 'Uncle'."

He let out a good natured chuckle, and Jaune quickly began to wave his hands through the air to try and silence him.

"Huh? Oh right, your team. Let's go somewhere and talk shall we?"

Jaune hesitated in confusion, before following reluctantly. Why exactly _did_ this old man want to speak to him?

Iroh led him onto one of the balconies, taking a moment to gaze up at the full moon in the sky. After enjoying the beauty of seeing the whole moon for once, instead of that broken horror show of the second moon, Iroh turned back to the young man with him.

"So, what is a young man like yourself doing out so late, hmmm?"

"Oh uh, you know, no reason, just…wanted to take a little walk."

"And that's why you're covered in dirt? And I thought _I_ got lost."

"…"

"…While you're a better liar than my nephew, I am still an old man, and I can wait a _long_ time for the truth."

Jaune rubbed his hands together nervously.

"…I wasn't really going for a walk. I was, doing this thing for a friend."

"Doesn't sound like a very nice friend if they're making you sneak around at night."

"Well, he's not really a friend, more of a…person who knows something about me."

"Oh…and what did your team say about this?"

"Not much…I kind of, didn't tell them."

"Why not? Surely they would be willing to help you if you needed it?"

"They would. But, I don't want them to. I need to do this by myself."

Iroh regarded him in silence for a long time. "You know, you sound a lot like my nephew. Always thinking you need to do things on your own without anyone's support."

"…Didn't your nephew set fire to the cafeteria?"

"Well…you don't have his temper, at least."

Jaune and Iroh chuckled together briefly, before the elder man became serious again. "My nephew has often fought to do things on his own. Believing that only _he_ could fix his problems. That only _he_ could make himself strong."

"Oh come on, Zuko's here on a _Combat Scholarship_. The only other person like that is Pyrrha, and she's unbelievably strong."

"And do you think that she has accomplished so much all on her own?"

"…no."

"There is nothing wrong with letting people who love you, help you. You came to Beacon to become a Huntsman, and there is no shame in admitting that _sometimes_ , you need a helping hand with that."

Jaune hung his head in shame.

"Do not let your pride blind you and hold you back. A drop of rain is not mighty, but together with others, it forms a mighty ocean."

"…do you always talk in 'wise old man speak'?"

Iroh laughed. "A habit from being with my nephew for so long. A few words of wisdom every now and then help him."

"…I thought I should deal with these things myself." Jaune slumped down onto the ground

"And now?"

"I'll stand up to him, but I'll do it with my team." His face began to fill with hope, before swiftly falling again as he realised something very important. "I just, I wanted to be able to at least stand _with_ my team, not just rely on them. But, I can't beat him though, he's better than me."

"Oh?" Iroh slowly sat down next to him, letting out only a minor groan from his age as he did so. "Better than you, or simply bigger?"

"Uh, bigger. Does that, matter?"

Iroh looked at him as if he'd missed the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course! Bigger people are always so keen to use their strength, throwing their weight around without a care for tactics or finesse. But more importantly, when this method fails, so too does their will to push you around. Stand up."

Jaune awkwardly did so along with Iroh, though the latter moved a fair few metres away from him before facing him again. "Now, I want you to pretend that I am this Cardin boy and try to intimidate me."

"U-uh, alright." He awkwardly dropped into his fighting stance as he watched Iroh draw himself to his full height and puff out his chest. Though the elderly man's short stature and large gut made him look more comical than threatening. "Um, listen Ir-Cardin, I'm not doing what you want anymore. So, uh, just, leave me alone."

It sounded pathetic even to his own ears, though the way Iroh was looking him up and down seemed to imply that it wasn't the words that he was critical of. "Your stance, it's all wrong."

Jaune faltered. "W-what? What's wrong with my stance?"

Iroh shook his head and walked over to the boy. "With a poor stance, you are unbalanced, and you can be easily knocked over." He darted forwards and threw Jaune to the ground. The blonde groaned and began to rub his butt in pain.

Iroh extended a hand down towards him, which he gratefully took. "With a solid stance, you are a much more serious threat." Iroh dropped into the correct position, watching as Jaune then imitated him. Iroh pushed his hips forwards slightly and dropped his arms marginally.

"Much better." Iroh praised as he gave the boy a slight shove, nudging him only slightly. "It's also a very good chance to throw your opponent off balance." Iroh dropped into the stance and had Jaune try and push him, quickly deflecting his arms and moving to push him. He stopped just before he did, showing Jaune the key positioning of his arms, as well as how he'd moved his own foot forwards to pull Jaune's out from under him at the same time.

He repeated the exercise a few times, alternating between demonstrating and having Jaune practice it. After a few attempts, Iroh sighed dramatically and rested against the balcony railing.

"Though really, I'm _far_ too old to be teaching much anymore. Perhaps however, that young Pyrrha lady can help you?"

It wasn't subtle, not even to Jaune, but smiled and nodded anyways. "Maybe. But…I kind of made a mistake. She offered to help me before and I…well, I told her what I told you. That I had to do it myself."

"It is usually best to admit mistakes when they occur, and seek to restore honour." Iroh placed a hand on his back, and began to lead Jaune back towards his dorm. "Be honest, and tell her what you have learned.

* * *

"Hey Arc!" Cardin's voice reverberated loudly throughout the Forever Fall forest. The boy in question looked over to him, his teammates taking protective steps towards him. He held up a hand and they paused, stepping back only slightly as they all eyed the bully before them.

Cardin smirked in smug satisfaction, his own team likewise enjoying the sight of Jaune cowing down to them.

' _Arc knows his place. Good.'_ "Hey Jaune, buddy, why don't you come hang out with us for a little bit?"

Jaune frowned and slowly began to walk towards him.

"Jaune, you don't have to-"

"It's okay Pyrrha." He flashed her a reassuring smile as he looked back to her. Hesitantly, she backed off, and he continued towards Cardin.

"Smart move Jaune. We'd hate for your friends to be rude now wouldn't we? So why don't we go and-"

"No." _That_ caught Cardin off guard.

"W-what? Alright, listen here Jaune. I've-"

"No! You listen to me. I'm not listening to you anymore Cardin. I've changed, and I trust in my team. You're not gonna bully me anymore."

"Oh _really_?" Cardin was beyond angry. He was absolutely livid. First that Zuko brat embarrassed him, now apparently _Jaune_ of all people thought they could boss _him_ around. "Are you forgetting that little secret of ours?"

"No, I'm not. But you're forgetting one thing. My team's here, and whatever happens, they'll _still_ be here."

The rest of JNPR formed up behind their leader, drawing their weapons threateningly.

* * *

Zuko whirled through the air, fire blasting from his legs as he viciously attacked his imaginary foe. Fire punches and kicks melded seamlessly together as he continued his assault, refusing to give them even the slightest relief. He ducked a counter and whipped towards the ground, burning away the grass before him. His opponent leapt to avoid the attack, before being caught in the air with a charged fire blast. They went down, and stayed down.

"Whooo!"

Ruby openly cheered while Yang and Blake clapped enthusiastically. Weiss was more modest with her applause. As a thank you, Ruby had wanted to see Zuko's fire bending so that she could she compare it to that woman working with Roman. The others had been curious too, and so they had tagged along for his demonstration.

Zuko didn't mind. Having his bending back felt amazing, and he hadn't wanted to wait any longer than he had to to practice. To feel that fire flowing through himself again, to feel the heat in his veins…there wasn't anything quite like it.

"Well done Zuko." His uncle walked over and embraced him in a tight hug. "Charging your attacks, the flow from one form to another…you have truly mastered your basics."

While to the others, saying that he had mastered his basics might have sounded a bit underwhelming, both Iroh and Zuko knew what it really meant. He had finally become a master fire bender. Leagues behind his sister admittedly, but Zuko was in too much of a good mood to care about that.

Being a _true_ master fire bender meant he was far beyond any ordinary bender. Others could use master-level moves to be sure, but they skipped their basics to do so, and were in fact weaker for it. Zuko would be considered one of the most powerful benders of his world, and no longer such a failure. His father would be proud…

Their celebrations were cut short as they heard the sound of arguing. Off in the distance, team RWBYZ and Iroh could just about make out the figures of team JNPR and team CRDL. Jaune and Cardin were in the middle of a heated argument, with Zuko only faintly able to hear something about 'staying away'. It turned violent just as quickly as it ended, with Cardin stepping up to shove Jaune over, and quickly finding himself flat on his ass.

' _A Fire Nation counter? Where'd he learn that…?'_

Cardin's team moved to attack Jaune, but quickly halted as the blonde's own team stepped forwards. Whatever they were arguing about, it was clear that Cardin was backing down.

Iroh smiled with pride. Bullies were cowards, wherever they were from. Threaten them with losing and embarrassment, and they would usually give up straight away. That was the trick, never give up without a fight. Iroh frowned as he looked towards his bag.

Without a word to Zuko or his team, Iroh wandered deep within the Forever Fall forest. Officially, he was coming along on the student field trip to make sure that Zuko behaved. In reality…

Unpacking his things by the river he'd found, Iroh laid the portrait of a young man against a rock. He positioned it carefully, giving it a beautiful view of the gently flowing river, and the magnificent leaves that drifted down from the trees.

"Happy birthday, my son. If only I could have helped you."

Tears began to drip down his cheeks as grief squeezed at his heart. His voice cracked as the tears grew, but he pushed on, and sang his son's favourite song.

" _Leaves from the vine, falling so slow._

 _Like fragile, tiny shells, drifting in the foam._

 _Little soldier boy, come marching home._

 _Brave soldier boy, comes marching home."_

He dropped his head into his hands, letting the tears spill out freely.

There was a snap of a twig behind him, and Iroh turned to see a young red-haired woman paused awkwardly as she had attempted to back away quietly.

"I'm-…I'm sorry for, interrupting you Mr Lee."

Iroh smiled sadly. "It's quite alright young lady. I wanted to show my son the beauty of the world, but that does not mean it is private."

She had obviously wanted to speak to him, so he patted the ground beside him as he gazed at the forest before him. Slowly, hesitantly, she came over, and sat down as quietly and respectfully as she could.

"…I'm sure your son would have loved to see this."

"As do I…" He continued his sad smile in remembrance of when Lu Ten was but a child, and he used to run through the palace gardens in excitement.

"So you must be that Pyrrha girl on Jaune's team, what brings you to me?" He said it kindly, to assure her that he felt no ill will towards her seeing him grieving.

"This place isn't very safe, so I started following when I saw you walking away, I wanted to make sure you were safe. And…I wanted to thank you for helping Jaune. He asked if I could help teach him…"

"He is a smart boy."

"I don't think the wisdom was _all_ him."

He chuckled softly. No, admittedly it wasn't. But he had listened, and he had accepted it. That was something.

"That…that was a beautiful song."

"I used to sing it to my son as a child."

"Can I…would he like it, if we sang it together?"

He looked to her, smiling with thanks.

"I think he would…"

* * *

 **AN:** Ten chapters down, we're nearing the end of volume one now, who's getting excited? Just as a little reminder, once volume one is covered I'll be posting a sort of FAQ and behind the scenes bit to answer all of your questions which I'll start taking on the final chapter, and then there will be a break until volume 2 is complete. Then, much like with volume one, I'll post a chapter at the same time each week until that one is done. Other than that, not a whole lot to say for this one, just tell me what you thought in your reviews.


	11. A Trip Into Town

**Chapter 11 – A Trip into Town**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

 **BLIP BLIP BLIP BLIP**

Despite all the time Zuko had spent stuck in whatever alternate reality or different planet or whatever he was on, he had never gotten used to all the "fake" sounds he was constantly hearing. Case in point, whatever Ruby was currently doing with her Scroll. She was tapping away furiously at the piece of glass, rapidly flashing coloured lights illuminating her face, and strange beeps and boops drowning out the chatter of the cafeteria as everyone enjoyed their breakfast.

She had her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth, her eyes locked in concentration on the Scroll even as she constantly tilted it around in her hands. He didn't know _what_ she could be doing, but that couldn't have been helping. As if to prove him correct, there was a sudden rapid beeping and then everything went quiet. At least it was until she let out a whimper, the adorable little whine being punctuated by a pout. Sadly, he wished he could say it reminded him of his little sister.

She looked up and managed to catch Zuko's eyes on her. "Did, did you want to play?"

His brow furrowed in confusion. Play what? She hadn't been playing any game he recognised. Then again, he hadn't seen anyone playing anything even _remotely_ similar to something like hide and explode, so it was probably just another weird quirk he'd yet to discover.

"No, I'm okay. What even is that anyway?"

She gasped dramatically, slapping her hands against her cheeks with dismay. "I know you don't have a Scroll, but how could you have never heard of Grimm Eclipse?"

"I've had to focus more on other things besides mindless games in my life."

Before Ruby could fully show just how offended she was over her favourite game being insulted, Blake quickly decided to change the subject. "So, you think the school could lend you a Scroll? There are some classes where you need it and you haven't been able to take part since the beginning of the year."

"Uh...no. I've asked them about it, but budget constraints and all that. Besides, they're already paying my uncle, so I figure he'll buy me one once he's saved enough money."

"Geez, I figure a school like this could afford to help out someone that's here on a scholarship. What if one of us ever needs to contact you?" Yang said, surprised at the school's dismissal at someone like Zuko not having a device that was practically essential.

"And what about when you go to Vale? How do you not get lost?" Weiss had finally joined in.

Zuko groaned internally and externally, not bothering to answer Yang's question. "I've never even been to Vale, so it doesn't matter."

"You've never been to… That's it!" Weiss slammed her fist onto the table, standing up straight to appear as much like an authority as possible. "Today, we are going into Vale. And today is just the perfect day for it too!"

' _Oh no.'_ Zuko _really_ didn't want to go into the town and be bored for the day. Seeking sanctuary, he turned to his actual team leader. "Can you overrule her, please?"

"Nope. She's right, we need to show you around Vale today!" She paused, remembering something else that Weiss had said. "Wait, what's so special about today Weiss?"

The heiress had already left, leaving Yang and Blake to only shrug their shoulders as Ruby's questioning eyes roamed over them. No doubt she had already disappeared off in her excitement to pack for their trip into town.

* * *

Zuko's eyes roved around the city in wonder. It truly was magnificent to see just _what_ the other towns and cities of this new world would look like. As he'd been expecting, they were _nothing_ like the ones in the Fire Nation, or the Earth Kingdom. Not a single wooden building or thatch rooftop in sight, instead everything was brick or stone or even metal of all things. Glass replaced open windows, and wooden or dirt roads were fully paved.

It almost felt like being back near the palace again in some aspects. The high quality architecture, the clean streets…and yet, he still loathed the sight of it. He was in a good mood make no mistake, and seeing more of the world was certainly interesting. But it felt almost _wrong_ that somewhere so unimportant, so normal, could compare to the Fire Nation palace. Beacon he could begrudgingly accept, it was after all a fairly prestigious academy, and with everything else that angered him about living there…

Zuko took a deep breath and pushed it to the back of his mind. What he had once thought of as home was gone now, no amount of bitterness would bring it back. It was a hard truth to swallow, and one he still hadn't, but ever since he'd come to accept his place on team RWBYZ after months of living with them, it hadn't felt quite as bad.

He glanced to team in question by his side as they walked through the streets of Vale. Balloons and streamers were already filling the city in preparation for some kind of festival. One old man had even taken it upon himself to hang up a banner with the words 'WELCOME TO VALE!' written on it in bright red letters.

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely _wonderful_!" Weiss was practically skipping with glee.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss." Ruby tilted her head in a mixture of surprise and confusion. "It's kinda weirding me out..."

"How could you _not_ smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply _breathtaking_!"

Yang sighed as she crossed her arms. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."

"Quiet, you!" The team rounded the corner, finally arriving at their destination after Agni knows how long of walking.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"

Zuko frowned dramatically. "I hope it's good. Y'know riding in one of those 'Bullhead' things just to get here isn't exactly fun."

"Oh please, you were fine." To his surprise he actually had been. Years of being out at sea and months of watching the Avatar fly away from him had made the whole trip not as bad as he'd expected. It was still boring though. "Besides, this is the best time for you to see Vale. I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a _representative_ of Beacon, I feel as though it is my _solemn_ duty to welcome them to this _fine_ kingdom!"

No-one believed her for a moment, and Blake took it upon herself to set the record straight. "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."

"You can't prove that!"

"Whoa." Ruby pointed towards a nearby building, its windows smashed and two detectives inspecting the area. "What happened here?"

"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." The detective walked off towards his partner.

"That's terrible." Yang sighed in sadness and looked away. Zuko however took a few subtle steps over towards the building, just close enough so that he could hear the two detectives talk clearly to each other.

"They left all the money again."

"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?"

"I don't know, an army?"

"You thinking the White Fang?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

"Hmph! The White Fang." Weiss crossed her arms in a huff.

"Wait, who're the White Fang?" Zuko asked, walking away from the cops so that they couldn't be overheard by them.

"They're an awful bunch of degenerates!"

"What's _your_ problem?" To Zuko's surprise, _Blake_ of all people looked to be annoyed by Weiss's 'explanation'.

" _My_ problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths." Blake turned to Zuko, who still looked confused. "They're a collection of misguided Faunus."

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

"So then they're _very_ misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"

Zuko noticed how she had quickly changed the subject slightly and narrowed his eyes. He would have to do his own research on them at some point… Ruby either didn't notice or simply let it be as she answered.

"Hmm... Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago... Maybe it was him."

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." She whirled on Blake in anger. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

Yang stepped in to try and defuse the situation. "That's not necessarily true...?"

"Hey, stop that Faunus!"

From the edge of the docks team RWBYZ could easily spot the blonde haired Faunus as he leapt off of a cargo ship. Rather astonishingly, he leapt on top of a lamppost and began to poke fun at the sailors who yelled at him. He didn't even move until the two detectives from the store began to order him to get down.

He got down from the lamppost and sped past the two detectives, making his way up and towards the team. For a brief moment, Zuko considered stopping him. The cops wanted him, and he was going to pass right by Zuko. However, if he remembered correctly, many Faunus were treated abhorrently for…some reason, and so the guy was probably pretty desperate. Remembering his days travelling through the Earth Kingdom robbing others to survive, Zuko let him pass.

Yang watched in amusement as he got further and further away. "Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes..."

"Quick! We have to observe him!"

Weiss gave chase as quickly as her high heels would allow her, the rest of team RWBYZ following more from wanting to stay together than agreement. As Weiss rounded the corner after him however, she smacked straight into somebody and fell over. When she looked up again, it was just in time to see him disappear over the rooftops.

"No, he got away!"

"Uhh... Weiss?" Yang pointed to the girl she still sat atop of. She quickly jumped off, her hands raised apologetically even as the girl laid smiling on the ground.

"Sal-u-ta-tions!"

"Um... hello."

"Are you... okay?"

"I'm _wonderful_! Thank you for asking."

The team looked to each other in bewilderment before Yang turned her attention back to the strange girl on the ground. "Do you... wanna get up?"

"…Yes!" She eagerly leapt to her feet, the team taking a step back in discomfort. "My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Uh, Zuko."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head? Oh, I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her. "You already said that."

"…So I did!"

"…Well, sorry for running into you!"

Ruby waved goodbye as they turned to leave. "Take care, friend!"

After they'd gotten a safe distance away, Yang was the first to speak. "She was... _weird_..."

"I know I find a lot of normal things strange, but…that _was_ strange right?"

Weiss ignored Yang and Zuko, already looking around the rooftops for clues. "Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?"

'Penny' suddenly appeared before them. "What did you call me?"

Yang looked immediately apologetic. "Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!"

"No, not you." Penny walked over to Ruby. " _You!_ "

" _Me?_ I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh..."

"You called me 'friend'! Am I _really_ your friend?"

"Uuuum..." The rest of team RWBYZ, Zuko included, began to make big 'NO' motions with their hands from over Penny's shoulder. "Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?"

"Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys! Like him!" Penny pointed straight at Zuko, who promptly dropped his head into his hand and wished he was anywhere else. "I have heard many good things about scars on boys. Although yours looks very different from how it was described to me." And just like that, Zuko's embarrassment turned to anger.

While the team seemed content to chuckle at Zuko's suffering, it was actually Yang who decided to lend him a hand. "So... what are you doing in Vale?"

"I'm here to fight in the tournament."

"Wait, _you're_ fighting in the tournament?" Weiss put her hands on her hips in disbelief, while Penny saluted.

"I'm combat ready!"

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

"Says the girl wearing a dress." Perhaps it was spite from chuckling at him a moment ago, but Zuko couldn't stop himself, nor did he bother to try.

"It's a combat skirt!

Ruby slid next to her skirt sister. "Yeah!" Weiss held out her hand as Ruby promptly low-fived her.

"Besides, you're one to talk, you fight in rags!"

"Oh I'm sorry, I suppose I should have worn my dirty school ones instead?"

Weiss was about to snap back at him when a realization hit her. "Wait a minute." She whirled on Penny. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?"

"The who...?"

"The filthy Faunus from the boat!"

"Why do you keep saying that?!" Snapped Blake, Zuko's eyes narrowing once again.

"Huh?"

"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"Stop it!"

"Stop _what_? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!"

"You ignorant, little _brat_!"

* * *

The argument continued for several hours even after they headed home, their trip into the town ruined. Inside of their dorm room, Zuko was desperately trying to drown out the sounds of Weiss and Blake bickering by catching up on some of his homework.

' _Much like a person's Semblance, Auras have been known to activate in times of extreme distress. While it is typical for Huntsman and Huntresses in training to have their Auras unlocked by teachers or more advanced fellow students, it is not uncommon for dangerous training exercises to result in the activation of-'_

"I don't understand _why_ this is causing such a problem!" Aaaaand he was back.

"That _is_ the problem!" Blake fumed, pacing around the room in an attempt to try and vent at least some of her anger.

Weiss stood up from the bed she had been arrogantly laying on. "You realize you are defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"

"There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like _you_ , that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

' _No such thing as pure evil?'_ Zuko's mind drifted to the Air Nomad genocide, a slaughter which had been lied and turned into a glorious victory for the Fire Nation. _That_ …that was pure evil. Turning the murder of an innocent and harmless people into something that was celebrated, it could never be justified.

' _Except by father.'_ Zuko pushed those treacherous thoughts to the back of his mind. That was the past, he didn't want to think about that ever again.

"People like _me_?"

"You're discriminatory!"

"I'm a victim!" For perhaps the first time that night, Weiss grew quiet, rage dripping from her words. "You want to know _why_ I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus? It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in _actual_ bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood."

Ruby stepped forwards to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Weiss, I-"

"No!" She batted Ruby's hand away and stalked over to Blake. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

"Well maybe _we_ were just tired of being pushed around!" The room went deathly quiet as the others stared at Blake in shock. Even Zuko, who hadn't really cared one way or another about the Faunus, looked at her in surprise. "I... I..." Her eyes widened in horror at the words which had escaped her lips, Blake ran out of the room.

"Blake, wait! Come back!" Ruby tried to catch her as she left, but having been caught off guard she lost sight of her as soon as she left the room.

* * *

 **AN:** Alright, even closer to the finale now. You all excited? I know I am, I reckon you'll all like it. Make sure to keep your reviews coming people, great big long ones preferably. Then I have something to read and learn from, then I can become even _better_. That'd be awesome... Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter, and as always you'll have another at the same time next week!


	12. Searching

**Chapter 12 – Searching**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

When the morning came, and Blake's bed remained empty, there was no question about whether or not they would look for her. Ruby had been the first to suggest it, with Yang, Blake, and Zuko all quickly agreeing. Weiss went along with it without protest, however she was clearly not as enthusiastic as the rest of them. She kept her complaints to a minimum…mostly.

None of them really knew if they would find Blake, or even if she had ran away into Vale to begin with. But they had to try, even if there wasn't any sign of her.

"Blaaaake!" Ruby yelled as they walked down the street, her sister joining in after her.

"Blaaaake!"

"Blaaaaaaaake! Where aaaare yoooouuuu!?"

"Blake!"

Zuko had refused to yell along with the sisters, instead he'd been taking the time to question any locals they passed by. After he'd finished with the most recent stranger, he walked back over to his team.

"Still nothing, no one's seen her."

Ruby rounded on the only _non_ contributing member of their team. "Weiiiiss, you're not helping!"

"Oh! You know what might be able to help? The police!"

"Ugh, _Weiss_..."

"It was just an idea!"

"Yeah, a _bad_ one."

As they headed down a different street, Yang took it upon herself to try and calm things down somewhat. "Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions."

" _I_ think that when we hear it, you'll all realize _I_ was right!"

"And I think Weiss' hair looks _wonderful_ today!" The team jumped in surprise at the new voice, the four teenagers turning to see a familiar head of orange hair.

"Aaaah! Penny! Where did you come from!?"

"Hey guys! What are you up to?"

"Uhh..."

"We're looking for our friend Blake."

"Ooooh, you mean the Faunus girl!"

The team stared at Penny in surprise, an awkward silence growing as they each tried to process what they'd just heard.

"Wait, how did you know that?"

"Uhh, the cat ears?" Penny pointed to her head, confused as to why they were surprised.

Yang chuckled lightheartedly. "What cat ears? She wears a... bo _ooohhh_..."

The team was silent, having suddenly realized how obviously she had disguised herself. Zuko at least took comfort in the fact that he was still new to the whole 'different humans' thing. Ruby felt fairly embarrassed however.

"She does like tuna a lot..."

"So, where is she?"

"We don't know. She's been missing since Friday."

"That's terrible!" Penny walked straight up to Ruby and clapped her hands onto her shoulders. "Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!"

"Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, but we're okay! Really! Right, guys?"

She turned to her team for support, only to find that they had all rapidly ditched her in favor of their own survival.

* * *

Zuko peeked carefully around the corner, his good eye barely visible as he put his sneaking skills to use. Finally, he saw Penny drag Ruby away down the road in the opposite direction of them.

"Alright, she's leaving. We're free."

Yang and Weiss breathed a dramatic sigh of relief.

"Thank god, there's no way I'm looking around town with _her_."

"Oh come on Weiss, you barely want to look around town anyway."

Weiss opened her mouth to argue the case with Yang, but Zuko cut her off before she could begin, if only for his own sanity rather than to save Yang.

"Do you think Ruby'll be angry?"

"Oh please, she's the one who said they were friends, so she can deal with her."

"Hey now, Zuko's right. I mean, Ruby's pretty forgiving, but maybe we should apologize later just so we don't _burn_ any bridges. Eh?" Yang looked to both of her teammates for support, the growing silence doing little to wipe away the smug grin on her face.

After the stupidity of her joke had fully registered with him, Zuko turned and quickly walked away. "I'm not staying with her."

"What? It was funny."

Zuko ignored Weiss as she begged for him to come back, if only so that she could lump Yang's jokes onto somebody else. Zuko didn't stop however, and after a few turned corners and streets travelled, he was completely away from them.

' _Well, at least I can think now.'_ The morning had been focused entirely on finding Blake, so he hadn't had much chance to truly think on her revelation the night before. The fact that she was a Faunus meant very little to Zuko, while he didn't know much about them, it didn't seem like they were too different from humans as far as personality went. No, what troubled him, was what else she had implied.

' _She said "we were tired of being pushed around", so she was likely in the White Fang at some point, probably recently… So, can I trust her?'_

His gut reaction was to say no. If she used to be a 'terrorist' like Weiss had called the White Fang, then that meant she was an enemy of humans, of Zuko. She implied that she _used_ to be however, which mean she wasn't any more.

' _A change of heart, perhaps?'_

Irrelevant. Faunus were treated like garbage and childhood trauma wasn't something someone could forget. If she had believed in them once then she could believe in them again, which made her a threat not only to himself, but to his uncle. He'd almost lost him once thanks to Azula, he wouldn't let that happen again. And when it really came down to it, what could he do to assure himself that she had changed?

He supposed he could trust in her, trust in her as a teammate and, he supposed, as a friend. That was a problem though. Zuko hadn't trusted anyone beyond his uncle for years, not even his crew. They were all failures of the Fire Navy, dumped under his command as a formality rather than a gift. His father had trusted him to capture the Avatar, but the soldiers and sailors who he ordered around had no such mission, simply being told to follow him for his rank as Crown Prince.

He would bring them as support like he did when he attacked the Southern Water Tribe or Kyoshi Island, but he wouldn't rely on them to bring him victory. He'd tried trusting them to put the Avatar in the brig and they couldn't even handle that! The brat was running around his ship just moments later. They'd ratted him out to Zhao and told him that the Avatar had returned. Worthless, each and every one of them.

He didn't hate them however, as much as they no doubt assumed he had. He wouldn't let a single man under his command die needlessly like some callous monster, not like Zhao would have. But he couldn't trust them, couldn't believe in them to have his back when he needed it. No, they were just as likely to put a knife in it or leave him. And none of _them_ had any particular agenda against him.

And yet, Zuko found that he couldn't quite condemn Blake. It should have been as simple as that, that she was an enemy and he had to watch her or deal with her. But…he couldn't, and he didn't know why.

' _Is it…is it because, I_ want _to trust her?'_

He did. He wanted to trust her, to believe that she was better than that, that maybe…they could be friends. It'd been so long since he'd had a friend, so many years that he'd spent alone that he just couldn't give up on her. This was his _team_. A group of people he would have to spend years working together with and _damn it all_ he wanted it to be good.

So he could give her the benefit of the doubt, he could give her the chance to explain. But he was doing it for himself, not for her.

"Hey! Stop those thieves!"

The shout snapped Zuko out of his thoughts, and he turned to see a group of three men sprinting down the street towards him. Some old man was angrily waving his fist in the air from outside of his shop, his eyes locked with the small bag in one of the men's hands.

Zuko spotted the bag in his hands, as well as the gun in his other. It would kill him, a single bullet would end his life right there. The criminal running towards him seemed to think so too, as Zuko could see the gears turning in his mind as to whether to shoot the teenager in his way or try to get past him. Zuko didn't wait for him to decide, and a wave of fire washed over the man and sent him backwards onto the ground.

The effect was immediate, as his two comrades quickly faltered in fear. Another two blasts sent them to the ground as they hesitated and panicked. The difference between a master and an amateur, was that an amateur thought, while a master acted. Although, Zuko had perhaps a little _too_ much experience in acting without thinking.

Zuko grabbed the unconscious bodies of the three criminals and laid them out as two police officers arrived. In a rather strange coincidence, it was actually the same two detectives he'd seen the day before chasing that Faunus.

"Thanks for the help citizen, we'll take it from here."

Zuko nodded and headed away down an alley.

"Did you just say 'citizen'?"

"What? It's a saying."

"Yeah, but how _old_ are you?"

"Oh _ha ha_. Now, uh…which one of these guys had the money?"

* * *

Zuko casually flicked through the various cards he'd helped himself to. He recognized some of them, mostly the ones that he'd seen before as being 'Lien'. There were a few other that he didn't recognize however, and so he tossed them away into a nearby dumpster.

"Impressive."

She looked as out of place in the alleyway as Azula would in a daycare. The red dress may have accentuated her beauty, but it made her very difficult to forget, which its purpose probably was.

"…Thanks."

She had seen him take the stolen money for himself, Zuko had no doubts about that, but the fact that she wasn't mentioning it meant she was clearly after _something_.

"It's not every day you see someone who can use fire. It's very interesting." She walked closer to him, her high heels clinking like glass, and her hips swaying seductively. "And yet, you didn't burn them."

"I'm very careful."

"So I see." She walked around him, looking him up and down as if he was being inspected. She seemed pleased when she stopped in front of him. "I never caught your name."

"…Zuko."

"Zuko." She seemed to purr with approval, setting his hairs on edge. "So what does a man like yourself need with stolen money?"

"New clothes." She eyed the hole in his robe that he'd gotten a week ago and smirked.

"Follow me then." She turned and began to leave the alleyway, Zuko's feet hesitating for but a moment before he followed after her. It was bizarre, like he felt _compelled_ to follow her, to see just what she wanted with him.

"I never caught _your_ name."

Zuko didn't need to see it to know that she was grinning, almost as if she were proud of him. "No, you didn't. But tell me, where exactly did you learn such fire control?"

' _Uncle.'_ "Beacon."

"A huntsman in training then. It's so very rare to find one who would, help himself to another's belongings."

"I needed it more than he did."

"Hm." She wasn't scolding him, that much was clear even to Zuko. Instead, it seemed like she was far more interested in just _why_ he had done it.

She didn't ask him any more questions after that, and Zuko kept his mouth shut to make sure he didn't let anything slip. She was watching him. Watching how he moved, what he saw.

' _She's studying me.'_ Just why, Zuko didn't know, but he certainly wasn't going to ask. If she wanted something, then she would be the one to say it.

When she stopped, they were outside a store which looked like any of the others he had passed without a second glance, but she clearly knew something more about it.

"This is the best store in Vale, whatever you need, he'll make it for you." She waved lazily at the door before turning to face him. One eye covered by her dark locks, the other memorizing every little detail about him. "I would love to know more about you, Zuko, one day. Until then." She turned and left with her head held high, and Zuko felt as if he had just been dismissed by his father. By someone who was _far_ more powerful than him.

He took a few hesitant steps inside the store, paranoia screaming to him that it was some kind of trap.

"Can I help you?"

He wasn't particularly old, but the man who greeted him held years of experience in his gaze.

"I need some new clothes."

"Clearly. Custom made or are you buying off the shelf?"

A thought flashed across his mind. "Custom."

"Alright. You pay up-front and you can come back in a few hours after I take your measurements. What sort of thing are you looking for?"

It was dark when Zuko finally left the store, clad snugly in a new set of red and gold robes. Fire Nation robes. He burned the Earth Kingdom rags in his hands to ashes. No more would he have to wear that garbage, instead he had something that fitted him. It felt like being home again.

Zuko put his spare clothes into his new bag and slung it over his shoulder. In the hours he'd had to wait on his clothes to be made, Zuko had gone on his own little shopping spree. Only for the essentials of course, a sword sharpening kit and two Scrolls were among his main purchases. One for him, and one for his uncle, then he could speak to him far more often than he had been of late. The downside of sharing a room with four girls on a different floor from him.

He put those thoughts aside for later however, and readied himself mentally for a night of searching. He'd been waiting for night to come so that he could find Blake, since it was pointless to search during the day. Faunus could see at night, so that's when Blake would have moved. He and his team had been looking around during the day, when Blake would hide.

Now however, he could put his sneaking skills to good use. At night and over the rooftops was the best time and way to move. Nobody looked up, and even if they did they'd be hard pressed to see anything. But for someone with experience, who knew what they were looking for, Zuko would spot her the moment she moved.

An explosion caught his attention, and a close one at that. He could spy the smoke cresting up into the sky only a short distance away. It was close, very close, and just at the docks if he remembered correctly.

' _Found you, Blake.'_

* * *

 **AN:** So, not much to say this time around. Almost breaking the 200 followers though, Team RWBYZ is already my most followed story, but breaking the 200 barrier will be a new achievement for me. Which is awesome. Also, in case you didn't know this, I have some planned stories on my profile page if you want to check them out and let me know what you think. Don't worry, Team RWBYZ is always going to be a priority, so it wouldn't be taking any time away from this if I _did_ start writing one of them. But other than that, thoughts on this chapter?


	13. Black and White

**Chapter 13 – Black and White**

 **Beta read by Levi Ackermanlet**

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..." Roman Torchwick kept his cane raised as he stalked towards the shipping containers before him. That irritating Faunus girl was somewhere behind them, if he could flush her out then he could be rid of her before she grew from an annoyance to a problem. That she'd interrupted his little dock's raid spoke volumes of her ability to annoy.

To her credit, she wasn't as annoying as that other Faunus she was with, who had just dropped a banana peel on top of his freshly cleaned bowler hat.

"Leave her alone!"

The Bullheads that he'd brought with him finally saw fit to step in and do their jobs, unloading several armed White Fang onto the ground. Roman allowed himself to smirk as the animals quickly surrounded the blonde-haired Faunus.

"You're not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you, kid?"

They stepped forwards to attack him, swords and guns raised to wipe out their treacherous brethren, before promptly being blasted away as a series of fireballs smashed into the ground. From atop a distant set of containers a scarred teenager leapt through the air, fireballs flying from his fists and knocking down the remainder of the White Fang who had arrived to help Roman.

"Oh great, _more_ of you."

The new arrival and the blonde Faunus shared a glance with one another but otherwise said nothing, their attention turning to the groans of their enemies as they tried to rise to their feet. Roman took the initiative, unlike the rodents around him, and raised his cane to blast them away.

They dove away as the first shot hit the ground between them, the explosion ripping a small hole in the concrete where they stood. Any follow up attacks were quickly dropped when the cat girl appeared out of nowhere and began to slash at him again.

"He's mine!"

* * *

Zuko spared only a glance to Blake as she charged at the red-headed guy. He looked vaguely familiar, like someone he might have passed on the street, though he still had _no_ idea why they were fighting. The Grimm masks that his friends wore had made it fairly clear that he wasn't a 'good guy' when Zuko had decided to intervene. Speaking of friends…

The henchmen he'd knocked down were back on their feet, even if some of them still looked a little dazed. Zuko had forgotten about them possibly having a damn aura, the criminals he'd beaten up earlier had reminded him far too much of his usual time spent ending fights quickly. He didn't wait for them to make him regret his mistake however, and he was on them in moments.

He didn't bother drawing his swords as he leapt between his attackers, swords slicing uselessly through the air as they tried to hit him. His biggest threat were the guns that some of them held, as even one lucky shot would take him out of the fight for good. So he dodged around their pathetic excuses for swordsmen, and sent attack after attack into the real threats.

Several well placed kicks sent most of them off their feet and onto the floor again, the second time proving to be actually effective. The ones he didn't immediately get however, were handled by his new temporary ally, who batted each of them down with some kind of collapsible staff.

The big problems dealt with, Zuko swiftly moved on to the remaining swordsmen just as the blonde Faunus left him to go and help Blake. The Grimm masked thugs were more nuisances than legitimate threats, each one armed but woefully undertrained. In a way, the whole fight reminded him of when Azula had tried to trick him after the Siege of the North, blasting aside Imperial Fire Benders so that he could get to the real threat. Although Azula was _much_ more terrifying than whoever this moron was.

He was good though, that much was certain. During the short time it had taken for Zuko to knock down the thugs for good, he'd made an absolute mess of the docks. Several containers were blown apart along with some type of advanced crane. The more pressing matter however, was that Blake was down, and the man's exploding cane was levelled firmly at the blonde Faunus' head.

The blast of fire that Zuko kicked towards his head caught him off guard, but he recovered quickly. Not fast enough to escape the barrage of attacks Zuko unleashed upon him, desperate to keep him on the defensive and unable to blow Zuko apart with that cane of his. Unfortunately, the man's aura wasn't as pathetic as his henchmen's were, and as he let it absorb one of Zuko's attacks he was quickly returning fire with his cane.

They were certainly quicker than arrows, and Zuko didn't have the benefit of an aura to help him if he couldn't dodge, but much to his own pride he managed to just graze past the two blasts that rocketed towards him. The bowler hat man was completely out of patience however, and shot the ground by Zuko's feet, flinging him away and into a nearby container.

He let out a small yelp of pain before he clambered back to his feet. Aura or no, he'd been smacked around by the _Avatar_ , the criminal before him was nothing compared to him. He also wasn't a fool. As soon as Zuko made ready to fight, more and more of those strange balls of energy were hurtling towards him. He'd learned from his mistake however, and Zuko was quickly darting closer and closer to the man before he could take him down again.

The two clashed against one another, fire daggers blazing from Zuko's fists as he pressed against the cane that had been placed between them. In terms of strength, Zuko should have had the edge, having trained for nearly his entire life and nearing the prime of his youth. Thanks to the man's aura however, Zuko swiftly found himself being pushed back.

Fire blazed as Zuko dashed away from the losing battle of brawn, his feet sweeping out to cover his retreat. Instead of charging back into the fray however, his hands whirled through the air. Hot air shimmered, then burst into flames as it continued to whirl around him. Blasts of energy soared just past his head as he narrowly dodged. His hands continued their work, an inferno whirling around him as the flames grew brighter, higher, and _hotter_.

In one swipe, he brought his hand crashing down to the ground, and sent a torrent of fire towards his enemy. His brief pause in motions earned him a direct hit in the chest, that sent him flailing away once more, but his attack had already been loosed. A colossal explosion consumed Torchwick, and the sweat boiled off his body from the heat.

* * *

He crashed into a heap a short distance away. Angry, in pain, and thoroughly humiliated, but still unharmed as he felt his preciously little remaining aura work its way through his body. He got up with a groan, relieved to find that the scar faced punk who had just embarrassed him was still on the ground.

"Hey!"

Roman turned to look at up Ruby as she stepped into view on the rooftop. He swept off some soot from his jacket as he composed himself, before smiling and waving dramatically at her, losing all interest in his three defeated opponents.

"Well, hello, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?"

From behind her, Penny stepped forwards curiously, daring a peek over her shoulder and down at the docks below them.

"Ruby, are these people your friends?"

"Penny, get back!" Roman raised his cane and fired, hitting Ruby directly as she was distracted, and sending her scythe hurtling away from her. The criminal allowed himself to enjoy a menacing laugh as he watched Ruby struggle to stand back up, oblivious to Penny as she narrowed her eyes at him and stepped forwards.

"Penny, wait! Stop!"

"Don't worry, Ruby. I'm combat ready!"

She leapt off the roof as a blade sprung from her backpack, hovering in the air as it split into a dozen separate ones. The Bullheads which had been content to watch the previous battle flew towards her, intent on getting their own share of the fight. Their miniguns whirred as Dust rounds tore up the concrete around her. The bullets which were on-target were all deflected harmlessly as her blades formed a makeshift shield in front of her.

The strafing run ended, the blades reformed into a circle, and a green orb of light pulsated inside. With a punch, a deadly beam shot out and tore one of the Bullheads in half, the debris crashing into the ground in a powerful explosion.

* * *

Roman watched angrily as the ship went down, his hand flying to the scroll by his side as it blew up.

"One of you pick me up, we're leaving! And for god's sake will one of you animals at least take care of this bunch!?"

He didn't want yet another group of brats to be around to give him trouble, but nor did he want to stick around to face whatever the hell that little girl was. One of the Bullheads landed close by him while a second flew over, guns already whirling up to wipe out the three he'd fought before. One final glance to the girl with the swords as she pulled another Bullhead out of the sky, and he was quickly reassured about his decision to leave.

"These kids just keep getting _weirder_..."

* * *

Zuko crawled to his feet just in time to see the Bullhead turn towards him. Blake and the other Faunus were likewise trying to make it to their feet, only they were moving _much_ slower. Zuko's mind went haywire as he desperately thought of plan after plan, the Bullhead's guns glinting menacingly as they passed by one of the dock's lights.

He could run, maybe. If it focused on the other two then he just might get out of the path of its attack, but that was slim at best. Not to mention he wasn't going to leave Blake to die, nor the other one. Which meant he had to come up with some way of protecting them all.

He knew only of one thing that he could do, and he prayed to anyone, anything that would hear him that it would work. He took a deep breath to clear his mind and set to work.

His hands were moving before he could second guess himself, circling in front of him as he gathered up a well of power from within him, and drew it into his fingertips. The energy in his body split as he made his final moves, the Bullhead letting rip with its guns as it closed in. He thrust his hand towards the craft, and a bolt of lightning leapt from his fingertips.

It pierced the sky in a blinding, deadly light, striking the Bullhead and coursing through it, sparking at every piece of it before it shot back out of the tail and into the ground. Thunder boomed. The guns went silent. And for a moment, it was like time stood still. Zuko, in awe of what he had just done, and the ship unable to comprehend what had just been done to it.

It continued on its path, guns still quiet before it listed, and fell out of the sky. It crashed into the ground with a fiery explosion, shreds of metal spitting out in every direction as it tore itself apart against the concrete.

' _I…I just killed those people.'_

He flinched at the realization, the feeling of blood on his hands slowly creeping in. Quickly, he forced the thoughts from his mind. He'd long prepared himself for the day he would have to take a life, and he knew that if he hadn't done it, it would have cost him the life of not only himself but the two others with him.

* * *

It was a few hours later when the police were all on scene, along with Yang and Weiss who had eventually found them. As they arrived, Weiss began to storm towards Blake, determination in her eyes even as Ruby stepped protectively between them.

"Look Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute..."

Weiss ignored her and stepped past, coming face to face with Blake, who looked down in shame.

"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-"

"Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you? _Twelve_ hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided... I don't care."

"You don't care?"

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

"Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..." She glanced at the blonde Faunus disapprovingly. "Someone else."

Blake nodded, a tear dripping down her cheek as she smiled. "Of course."

"Yeah! Team RWBYZ is back together!"

The team stared at their leader, who shrugged apologetically for ruining the moment. As they began to wonder where that strange Penny girl had gone, Zuko began to tune them out. That girl seemed impossible, and what she had done was beyond belief, but then so did everything else in his new messed up world. He wasn't too worried about it much to his own surprise, instead his mind was on other things…

'… _I should tell them.'_

He couldn't, he knew that. They would never believe him, instead they'd just think he was crazy. Even _he_ had trouble believing it. But…they at least deserved the chance to decide for themselves. Right?

"So Zuko, since when could you zap people with lightning?"

Zuko grimaced at Yang's reminder, clearly she had been told by Blake what had happened. He answered anyways, leaning as comfortably as he could against one of the containers still remaining in the docks.

"Since now. I'd tried before, but it never worked. I…actually didn't think it would work then. I just hoped it would."

"Really? Well, you might want to try a little sooner next time. Probably not the best idea to let your aura tank those shots."

Zuko raised an eyebrow, and followed where she was pointing with her finger. It was a hole. A vicious tear in his new robes. Not from a sword slice, they hadn't gotten even remotely close enough to him, it was from that criminal Torchwick. When he'd been hit, it hadn't just been some weak energy, _thing_ that had dispersed into the air or something. He…had been shot, and lived.

' _How?'_

His mind raced as he threw a hand to the hole, desperately trying to feel for where he'd been shot. There was nothing, not even a scratch. He'd…stopped it…with an aura…

'… _how!?'_

* * *

Roman sighed with tiredness from inside the warehouse. Even the mountain of dust that surrounded him, a testament to his skills and prowess wasn't enough to lift his spirits. The docks heist was supposed to be their biggest haul yet, it was why they'd been so open with their strength after all. Instead, it'd turned into a disaster. Three Bullheads destroyed, a ton of those White Fang animals captured, or killed when their Bullheads crashed, and his reputation taking a blow as well.

"How very disappointing, Roman."

The voice sent a shiver down his spine, though he hid it well. He turned to face her, spying two other figures still in the shadows behind her.

"Whoa! Hehe... I wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon..."

"We were expecting… _more_ from you."

He let out a small nervous chuckle, before his irritated pride returned.

"Hey! You were the ones who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang."

She chuckled, a sound which terrified him.

"And you will continue to do so." A fireball appeared in her hand, a less than subtle warning. "We have _big_ plans for you, Roman. All we ask is... a little cooperation. But don't fear, you will have a chance to redeem yourself."

Her associate laid a Scroll down in front of him, looping footage of the robed teenager in action. Fire balls knocked down the White Fang grunts with ease, before the footage changed to show lightning striking one of their Bullheads before it fell from the sky.

"All you have to do, Roman, is find out about him."

"…what do you want to know?"

"Everything."

A small document slapped on the table from her hands. Details she already had on him, basics mostly. His name, where he studied, everything she'd been able to gleam from their small conversation, and even his basic measurements provided by her personal tailor.

"Find out where he came from, what he wants to do. I want to know where he trained, what his grades are like, who his family is and…how _close_ he is to them." She cast a glance over towards her two subordinates, still waiting obediently at the far end of the room. "You may be getting a new friend."

* * *

As soon as he stepped off the Bullhead back at Beacon, his uncle wrapped him up in a tight embrace.

"Zuko! I thought you were done getting yourself into trouble…"

He smirked as he returned the hug. "Never, uncle, you should know me better than that."

Behind his uncle, Ruby locked eyes with Zuko and gave him an understanding nod. The rest of his team turned to give him some privacy, even as the uncle and nephew walked slowly behind them. Zuko's smile quickly dropped into a frown as his thoughts returned full force.

"Uncle, something happened…"

Iroh turned serious, dropping the one armed hug they'd been walking with. He dropped his voice into a whisper as they slowed down, making sure to keep themselves a good distance away from eavesdroppers.

"What is it, Prince Zuko?"

"I…I have an aura."

His uncle was stunned silent for several moments, struggling to process what he'd been told.

"But…how?"

"I don't _know_. But, during the fight, I…got shot."

Iroh's fatherly instincts quickly kicked in as he began to check the boy over for wounds. Zuko took a brief moment to relish in the feeling, before he reassured him.

"It's okay uncle, I'm fine. Somehow…I wasn't hurt by it. The only explanation I can think of, is that I was protected by one of their 'auras'."

"Are you sure?"

"It fits with what I've learned about it. It's supposed to protect you from harm…and I didn't have any armor on…"

"Hmmm…" Iroh was deep in thought, his hands stroking through his long grey beard in contemplation. "Unfortunately, I am still not very familiar with the…gifts of this world. Perhaps however, whatever brought you here, gave you this power too?"

Zuko's eyes narrowed briefly, and he fought back the urge to correct him that they'd been kidnapped. Instead, he calmed himself with a breath, and waited for his uncle to continue.

"I will have to pray tonight, maybe I will find our answer."

He looked at him with disbelief. "Uncle, Agni can't help us here, you know that."

"Maybe…but I can hope."

"You-…whatever. There's something else too. I-…bent lightning."

For a moment, Zuko couldn't tell just _what_ expression Iroh had on his face. However the tight hug that Iroh gave him _yet again_ , certainly didn't seem angry.

"Oh Zuko, I am so proud of you! You have let go of your shame, and no longer does doubt cloud your mind."

Zuko looked away awkwardly, a slight grimace marring his face. "I didn't exactly have a choice, I kind of _had_ to accept where I am. There's…no more going back."

Iroh clapped him reassuringly on the back, a sad smile growing on him. "It is a start my nephew, and what may help even more, would be to tell those young ladies the truth."

"What!? Uncle, you know I can't-"

"They deserve to know Prince Zuko, at least some of it." He didn't look convinced, and his grimace grew into a complete frown. "They should know who you are. How you came here, and where you came _from_ , that is not so important."

* * *

Zuko's mind was still awhirl as he walked through the door and back into the Team RWBYZ dorm. The others chatted casually as they headed for their beds, content to simply sleep after such a long day. Unfortunately, Zuko knew he had to do it as soon as possible.

"I lied."

They stopped, glancing at him in confusion. Ruby was the first to ask what they were all thinking.

"You…lied? About what?"

"Well, not lied necessarily…just, left some things out."

They continued to look at him curiously, and he took a deep breath. Mentally, he prepared himself to try and spit out the truth. Or at least, a _version_ of it.

"I come from…somewhere, really far from here. And, my name isn't exactly Zuko Lee."

A part of him was already regretting saying anything as their confused eyes wandered over him. Nevertheless, he had already started, and so he gave them a proper Fire Nation bow, his hands easily morphing into the flame of his homeland.

"My name, is Zuko. Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation, and heir to the throne."

* * *

Iroh sighed as he slid his key into the door of his room. It had been a long day indeed for the former general. An extended day in the kitchen thanks to an illness keeping them understaffed, and then with Zuko's little escapades at the docks…

' _And here I thought we had left the excitement behind.'_

He chuckled to himself, accepting that some things would just _never_ change. He palmed the Scroll that Zuko had bought, a frown coming to his face as he wondered where exactly his nephew had gotten the money for it from. No, some things weren't changing, even if they perhaps should.

There was a knock at his door, which surprised the old general, given the late time of the day. What surprised him even more, was who was standing at his door.

"Professor Ozpin? How may I help you?"

The green haired man smiled whimsically, before raising his empty mug with a glint in his eye. "I know it's rather late, but I was hoping for some of that delicious Jasmine tea you make."

Iroh didn't believe him for a moment, and Ozpin wasn't so foolish to think he did. But, it was at least a polite way of asking to come inside to speak, and no doubt partly true at least. He drank his own tea so much for a reason after all.

"Of course professor." He stepped aside and let him in. "I'm running a bit short on my Jasmine supply I'm afraid, however I've found some good Ginseng recently, would you like to try that instead?"

"Yes, please. I'm sure that any tea you make would be delicious."

Iroh chuckled good-naturedly, and moved over to his brand new kettle, a courtesy present from the kitchen staff. He heated the water in but a moment thanks to his firebending, and mentally prepared himself for the conversation to come.

"I was very surprised when Zuko told me he had discovered his aura." To his immense credit, Iroh almost didn't catch the wince in Ozpin's eyes as he passed him his drink. Iroh wasn't so matured that he didn't take pride in the skills he'd garnered over years of experience, only feeling the sadness of what he'd so foolishly used them for when he was younger.

"He was very lucky that he discovered it in time, he shouldn't have placed himself in that situation without knowing he had it first."

Ozpin paused as he raised the cup to his lips, acutely aware of scolding heat which had begun to radiate from the tea before him.

"I don't suppose there is a way he could have been _assured_ of his aura's presence?"

Ozpin set the cup on the side, taking a brief moment to prepare his words before he spoke to the elderly gentleman. The elderly gentleman, whose tenseness was broadcasting an assured danger should Ozpin fail to explain himself.

"Had he asked, I would gladly have unlocked his aura for him."

"Despite my efforts, I do know Zuko well enough that he would not ask unless he had no other options. As do you."

Clearly, Iroh wasn't happy with the danger his nephew had found himself in, especially if it could have been reduced. Ozpin sighed in resignation, oddly feeling like a naughty child before his superior.

"I didn't know that he would find himself in such a situation, had I known, then I would not have tried to teach him a lesson." Iroh looked ready to scold him, before the professor continued to try and defend himself. "But you must remember Iroh, that this _is_ a combat school. Zuko has entered this school to train himself to become a Huntsman, danger _will_ come."

Iroh did understand that, truly he did. It didn't calm him much however when his nephew had been in danger. It was one of the few areas he struggled with his infamous patience.

"I have done my own research into your 'aura', and there is still one more thing you can do to help protect him."

Ozpin nodded, pleased that Iroh had at least _somewhat_ accepted his apology. He valued Iroh, and Zuko too, it was a shame that such a situation had occurred. He stepped over, and placed his hand on the firebender's chest.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."

* * *

 **AN:** Hey hey, final chapter of volume 1 is done and extra long, you all like? The plan is at the moment that all the volume finales will be extra long, just to make it that little bit better. The plan now however, is where some of you might be a little disappointed. There's going to be a break until volume 2 is complete, it's in progress don't worry, and when that's done I'll start posting it at the same day and time as I have been doing. Until then, next week will be a special FAQ chapter in which I answer general questions I've received, any that are left as a review in this chapter, and also adding a few extra details about the changes that have been made to the plan of volume 1 from how it was originally done. So, leave me a question and I'll answer it next week!


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